Make it a pair of Olympic gymnastics gold medals for Gabby Douglas, who added the all-around title Thursday to the one she won with the US team two nights ago at the London Games.
Douglas became the third straight American to win gymnastics’ biggest prize, taking the lead on the first event Thursday and never really letting anyone else get close. She finished with a score of 62.232, less than three-tenths ahead of Viktoria Komova of Russia. Aliya Mustafina won the bronze.
Douglas brought the house down with her energetic floor routine, and US teammates Jordyn Wieber, McKayla Maroney and Kyla Ross jumped to their feet and cheered when she finished. Douglas flashed a smile and coach Liang Chow lifted her off the podium.
Komova’s floor routine was impressive, as well, and she stood at the center of the arena staring intently at the scoreboard, her folded hands at her mouth. When the final standings flashed, her head dropped and she hurried to the sidelines, tears falling.
Douglas finished with a score of 62.232, about three-tenths ahead of the Russian.
Mustafina and Raisman finished with identical scores of 59.566, but the Russian got the bronze on a tiebreak. The lowest scores for both gymnasts were dropped, and the remaining three were added up. That gave Mustafina a total of 45.933 and Raisman 45.366.
Just as she did in Tuesday night’s team final, Douglas set the tone with the first event, vault. Once again doing the difficult Amanar — a roundoff onto the takeoff board, back handspring onto the table and 2.5 twisting somersaults before landing — Douglas took a small hop to the left and then another, putting her dangerously close to the out-of-bounds line.
She never looked down, but it was clear she knew how close she was, twisting her upper body to the left to absorb the momentum and keep her legs from moving. She stayed in place — and in bounds — and her 15.966 gave her a lead she never relinquished.