Sarah Huffman [3:27 PM, London Time]
USA women’s gymnastics wins gold in the team final!!!!! I’m so glad everyone finally knows. It was very hard to keep this to myself. This competition was one of the greatest experiences. I kept checking and re-checking my ticket beforehand making sure it was really happening. I arrived at the arena two hours early when the doors first opened. By the time the gymnasts came out I was a nervous wreck. But they were flawless! I was probably the worst person to watch this competition with. As they competed on each apparatus I kept wringing my heads and in my head I was saying “come on, come on, come on, come on.” Each tumble run, jump, and dismount took another year off my life. It was like watching FSU football. I kept an eye on the Russian and Chinese teams because I knew they would be our biggest threat, but there was nothing to worry about. Our last event was the floor exercise and the Russians were up first. By the time their second competitor had gone, they were all crying in defeat. As you probably saw on tv that was the start of the Russian team falling apart. At that moment I knew we had won gold. Our girls went onto the floor and rocked it! There were so many Americans there chanting “USA!” and clapping along to their final routines. We had to wait an agonizing 45 seconds for the final score to be released, but when it was the crowd went into an uproar! We jumped into the air. I started crying and hugging the American next to me whom I had just met an hour earlier. It was unreal.
The best part about this was seeing an American team win gold. Watching our flag being raised and hearing the national anthem was a moment I’ll never forget. I had chills, and more tears of course. It was one of the greatest moments of my life, definitely staying in my top 5.
Cheers!
