Here it is, folks. After all the talk, the agony of choosing 5 person teams, the countless injuries, the hundreds of pink leotards from the Americans and gallons of hair glitter from the Russians, we've finally reached the Olympic team final. Are your palms sweaty? Is your heart racing? Do you have your worry beads to clutch when Huang Quishuang and Gabby Douglas mount the beam?
Join me after the cut for a live blog at 11:30 am EST:
I've got the BBC streaming presently. Shannon Miller is a noticeable upgrade from the Terrible Trio, but no one tops Christine, Mitch and Matt in my book. Let's be honest though, anything would be better than Tim and Elfie and Al. The NBC coverage of the men's team final was absolutely awful, AWFUL last night- we saw nothing of the Japanese or Russians or Germans, barely any Chinese or Ukrainians, and I don't think we saw a single rings routine at all.
Here we go!
Jordyn appears as smiley as ever. Aly's makeup is so pretty.
Yao Jinnan didn't present with the rest of her team. Oops. Chinese leo is extremely swirley.
Catalina's got her game face on.
Great Britain always has the best leos. This blue color is lovely in the acid pink O2.
Weird mesh armpits for Italy's leo- not a great look.
Warmup has started. Great Britain is starting on beam, which, yikes.
Wieber is up on vault. I hate this leo, to be honest. It's like the Terminator or something. Great vault! 15.933
Maroney STICKS IT. Damn that was amazing. Better than 2011 Worlds. 16.233. Deserved.
He Kexin's up on bars. Leg form on Pak. Dead hang. Sticks dismount, but not as good as quals. 15.766 is high for that.
Jennifer Pinches on beam. Considering she was brought here ostensibly for beam, coming off on a change-leg split leap is not ok. 11.833 is just awful.
Whelan's Onodi is just yeesh. Making it through though, hopefully will settle Team GB down.
Team USA's vault total is .5 higher than yesterday.
Russia's getting ready for vault. Ok, Aliya's flashed a 5.8. Good girl.
STUCK DTY. She can't do better than that. Super start. 15.233 is better than Day 1.
Shintake smiles before mounting beam. Definitely the only time that's happening tonight.
Paseka lands off to the side, at least a .5 step. 15.3 for her, so not a disaster, but not as good as she could and should have done.
Larisa's on bars. The Romanian coach is so close when he spots the girls.
USA is up by 1.766 at present.
They show us Gabby's vault- not the same distance as Wieber but higher scored.
Komova's vault is better than Day 1 with a small hop.
Disastrous beam rotation for GB- sub 40 for a top 8 team is a major yikes.
Romania's warming up on beam. Interesting to see how they recover from what was for them a terrible day of qualifications on this apparatus.
Grishina goes through almost flawlessly. Much better than Day 1. She still looks a tiny bit labored but it was a hit.
Look, feed, I don't really care about Canada on vault. GO BACK TO BARS.
FINALLY. Komova smashes bars. Stuck double double. Just what they needed. 15.766 is too low, that's what Kexin got with numerous form breaks!
Catalina Ponor makes that beam her bitch. Not even a ghost of a wobble. I don't see anyone else hitting beam like that. 15.416.
Jennifer Pinches hits floor after royally messing up on beam. Good girl.
Wieber is so so muscled on bars. Hop on landing. 14.666 is too high.
Whelan peaked at Euros, I think- lots of little landing errors except on her double tuck which was very solid.
I think Deng Linlin came off on beam- her score is 13.766. Didn't see it though.
Kyla- a little leg form but a stuck dismount. 14.933 which is a bit better than Day 1.
Douglas got a 15.2 on bars which is lower than Day 1. 44.799 is the USA team total, about 2 tenths down on bars than qualifications. They have a .4 lead on the Russians. Oh man, it really is going to come down to beam.
Speaking of beam, Huang was a wobble-fest but she stayed on. Sui Lu apparently rocked her set with a 15.316.
They just showed Larisa on beam- 15.3 as well with a great dismount. China is a good 2 points down on their beam total from qualifications which opens the door for Romania.
Oh boy, Gabby is apparently getting ready to go on beam. My poor nerves can't take this. So far so good. A couple small wobbles and a step on the dismount but otherwise very strong. Score taking a long time. 15.233 is a bit down from day 1.
China is imploding on floor. More good news for Romania. Only a 5.8 difficulty score for Sui Lu on floor and Huang and Linlin both missed.
Something must have happened with Raisman (haven't seen it yet) but her score is below 15. Unexpected to say the least and it keeps the door open for Russia.
Bulimar on floor, and you see Aliya almost come off on her switch ring. Jesus.
Smart move to put Bulimar on, she is fantastic with a perfectly straight double layout. Romania need to catch China here.
14.533 from Mustafina is not good.
Komova messes up her switch ring and is off the mat on her Patterson. I think Russia have lost any chance now. The replay of her sheep jump is exquisite. Replay of her dismount shows she was lucky not to sit it down.
Ksenia puts in the second best beam routine of the day after Ponor. Superb. Should bring in a huge number. Wow. 14.833 is RIDICULOUS for that routine. That was lower than Kyla Ross and Gabby both of whom had wobbles and steps on the dismount. Are you kidding me, it was lower than her qualifications routine!
Romania are now ahead of China by a point an a half. USA is ahead of Russia by about a point and a half.
Mustafina needs to shake off beam. Super landings on first two passes. WHAT the BBC is moving to stupid news! Over to you Shannon. Get to see more Mustafina on floor. Very solid routine. Should score a bit better than night 1. 14.8 is quite a bit better than her qualifications score.
Grishina MELTS DOWN on floor. OH NO. Could Russia lose the silver to Romania? Grishina gets a 12 on floor and Komova is in tears, as well as Mustafina. They are also not looking at poor Nastia.
AND KSENIA BOTCHES THE LAST PASS. ROMANIA WINS SILVER I AM SURE.
Well goodness me. They have made it! THEY MADE IT. The rest of the routine was flawless but sweet Lord. I am completely verklempt.
No Amanar from Huang but completely stuck DTY- best thing she's done all day.
Gabby hits floor for over a 15.
Stuck opening two passes from Jordyn. She is just knocking this one out of the park.
Yao survives vault.
Aly doesn't do her big first pass- she doesn't need to. A 9.0 execution score is just salt in the wound at this stage. The replay of her twisting form makes me ill.
Romania is definitely subdued. Russia looks shattered. China looks devastated. It will be interesting to see how this affects the feeling and dynamics of the AA. Will Mustafina and Komova come back out fighting? Can Ksenia get back into the game in floor/beam finals? Will Iordache win a medal in the one event she has left? It does look like Ponor shook off whatever was getting her down in quals.
Join me after the cut for a live blog at 11:30 am EST:
I've got the BBC streaming presently. Shannon Miller is a noticeable upgrade from the Terrible Trio, but no one tops Christine, Mitch and Matt in my book. Let's be honest though, anything would be better than Tim and Elfie and Al. The NBC coverage of the men's team final was absolutely awful, AWFUL last night- we saw nothing of the Japanese or Russians or Germans, barely any Chinese or Ukrainians, and I don't think we saw a single rings routine at all.
Here we go!
Jordyn appears as smiley as ever. Aly's makeup is so pretty.
Yao Jinnan didn't present with the rest of her team. Oops. Chinese leo is extremely swirley.
Catalina's got her game face on.
Great Britain always has the best leos. This blue color is lovely in the acid pink O2.
Weird mesh armpits for Italy's leo- not a great look.
Warmup has started. Great Britain is starting on beam, which, yikes.
Wieber is up on vault. I hate this leo, to be honest. It's like the Terminator or something. Great vault! 15.933
Maroney STICKS IT. Damn that was amazing. Better than 2011 Worlds. 16.233. Deserved.
He Kexin's up on bars. Leg form on Pak. Dead hang. Sticks dismount, but not as good as quals. 15.766 is high for that.
Jennifer Pinches on beam. Considering she was brought here ostensibly for beam, coming off on a change-leg split leap is not ok. 11.833 is just awful.
Whelan's Onodi is just yeesh. Making it through though, hopefully will settle Team GB down.
Team USA's vault total is .5 higher than yesterday.
Russia's getting ready for vault. Ok, Aliya's flashed a 5.8. Good girl.
STUCK DTY. She can't do better than that. Super start. 15.233 is better than Day 1.
Shintake smiles before mounting beam. Definitely the only time that's happening tonight.
Paseka lands off to the side, at least a .5 step. 15.3 for her, so not a disaster, but not as good as she could and should have done.
Larisa's on bars. The Romanian coach is so close when he spots the girls.
USA is up by 1.766 at present.
They show us Gabby's vault- not the same distance as Wieber but higher scored.
Komova's vault is better than Day 1 with a small hop.
Disastrous beam rotation for GB- sub 40 for a top 8 team is a major yikes.
Romania's warming up on beam. Interesting to see how they recover from what was for them a terrible day of qualifications on this apparatus.
Grishina goes through almost flawlessly. Much better than Day 1. She still looks a tiny bit labored but it was a hit.
Look, feed, I don't really care about Canada on vault. GO BACK TO BARS.
FINALLY. Komova smashes bars. Stuck double double. Just what they needed. 15.766 is too low, that's what Kexin got with numerous form breaks!
Catalina Ponor makes that beam her bitch. Not even a ghost of a wobble. I don't see anyone else hitting beam like that. 15.416.
Jennifer Pinches hits floor after royally messing up on beam. Good girl.
Wieber is so so muscled on bars. Hop on landing. 14.666 is too high.
Whelan peaked at Euros, I think- lots of little landing errors except on her double tuck which was very solid.
I think Deng Linlin came off on beam- her score is 13.766. Didn't see it though.
Kyla- a little leg form but a stuck dismount. 14.933 which is a bit better than Day 1.
Douglas got a 15.2 on bars which is lower than Day 1. 44.799 is the USA team total, about 2 tenths down on bars than qualifications. They have a .4 lead on the Russians. Oh man, it really is going to come down to beam.
Speaking of beam, Huang was a wobble-fest but she stayed on. Sui Lu apparently rocked her set with a 15.316.
They just showed Larisa on beam- 15.3 as well with a great dismount. China is a good 2 points down on their beam total from qualifications which opens the door for Romania.
Oh boy, Gabby is apparently getting ready to go on beam. My poor nerves can't take this. So far so good. A couple small wobbles and a step on the dismount but otherwise very strong. Score taking a long time. 15.233 is a bit down from day 1.
China is imploding on floor. More good news for Romania. Only a 5.8 difficulty score for Sui Lu on floor and Huang and Linlin both missed.
Something must have happened with Raisman (haven't seen it yet) but her score is below 15. Unexpected to say the least and it keeps the door open for Russia.
Bulimar on floor, and you see Aliya almost come off on her switch ring. Jesus.
Smart move to put Bulimar on, she is fantastic with a perfectly straight double layout. Romania need to catch China here.
14.533 from Mustafina is not good.
Komova messes up her switch ring and is off the mat on her Patterson. I think Russia have lost any chance now. The replay of her sheep jump is exquisite. Replay of her dismount shows she was lucky not to sit it down.
Ksenia puts in the second best beam routine of the day after Ponor. Superb. Should bring in a huge number. Wow. 14.833 is RIDICULOUS for that routine. That was lower than Kyla Ross and Gabby both of whom had wobbles and steps on the dismount. Are you kidding me, it was lower than her qualifications routine!
Romania are now ahead of China by a point an a half. USA is ahead of Russia by about a point and a half.
Mustafina needs to shake off beam. Super landings on first two passes. WHAT the BBC is moving to stupid news! Over to you Shannon. Get to see more Mustafina on floor. Very solid routine. Should score a bit better than night 1. 14.8 is quite a bit better than her qualifications score.
Grishina MELTS DOWN on floor. OH NO. Could Russia lose the silver to Romania? Grishina gets a 12 on floor and Komova is in tears, as well as Mustafina. They are also not looking at poor Nastia.
AND KSENIA BOTCHES THE LAST PASS. ROMANIA WINS SILVER I AM SURE.
Well goodness me. They have made it! THEY MADE IT. The rest of the routine was flawless but sweet Lord. I am completely verklempt.
No Amanar from Huang but completely stuck DTY- best thing she's done all day.
Gabby hits floor for over a 15.
Stuck opening two passes from Jordyn. She is just knocking this one out of the park.
Yao survives vault.
Aly doesn't do her big first pass- she doesn't need to. A 9.0 execution score is just salt in the wound at this stage. The replay of her twisting form makes me ill.
Romania is definitely subdued. Russia looks shattered. China looks devastated. It will be interesting to see how this affects the feeling and dynamics of the AA. Will Mustafina and Komova come back out fighting? Can Ksenia get back into the game in floor/beam finals? Will Iordache win a medal in the one event she has left? It does look like Ponor shook off whatever was getting her down in quals.
Hmm the finals was enjoyable i really was afraid that we gonna loose silver but then Ksenia done all great floor beside this horrible fall on dismount but we stayed on second place ! if Larisa compete properly in team on all events Romania could fight for gold too and we probably got the bronze : (
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