Mary Lou Retton broke through in 1984 to become the first American to win gold in the Olympic all-around event, Carly Patterson and Nastia Liukin followed in 2004 and 2008, but Jordyn Wieber, the heir apparent, has suddenly had to recalibrate her medal aspirations in London. In a heartbreaking result that left her stunned and tearful, Wieber, the reigning world all-around champion, erred just enough Sunday to be knocked out of Tuesday’s individual all-around final when teammates Aly Raisman and Gabby Douglas outscored her in team qualifying competition for the two individual US slots in the final. Some have compared Wieber’s powerful athleticism to Retton’s, and now she will have to turn her steely concentration and normally rock-solid consistency to the team event and the balance beam finals, for which she qualified.
Wieber, who lives and trains in DeWitt, Mich., got her start in gymnastics at age 4 after her parents noticed how long she was able to balance on one foot. Maybe not surprisingly, she calls balance beam her favorite individual event. Her teammates are now counting on Wieber as they did last fall in Tokyo, when she led them to a world title. Sports Illustrated has picked to win the team gold, something achieved by the American’s only one other time, in 1996 in Atlanta.
