INDIANAPOLIS, Oct. 17, 2011 – At the 2011 World Gymnastics Championships, the United States won a total of seven medals, including four gold, and secured team berths to the 2012 Olympic Games in London for both men’s and women’s gymnastics. This is just the third time the USA has won seven total medals, and the seven in 2011 mark the most medals won since the 2007 World Championships.
"This week represents a very proud achievement for USA Gymnastics," said Steve Penny, president of USA Gymnastics. "It is so rewarding to see these athletes achieve their dreams in representing their country at the highest level."
The United States also won seven medals in 2003 and 2007, second only to the nine medals won in 2005. The women’s team gold medal is the USA’s first since 2007 and third overall. For the men, the team bronze medal is the first team medal since 2003. The U.S. medalists for 2011 are listed below.
Gold medals
- Women’s Team: Gabrielle Douglas, Virginia Beach, Va./Chow’s Gymnastics and Dance Institute; McKayla Maroney, Laguna Niguel, Calif./All-Olympia Gymnastics; Alexandra Raisman, Needham, Mass./Brestyan’s American Gymnastics; Alicia Sacramone, Winchester, Mass./Brestyan’s American Gymnastics, Sabrina Vega, Carmel, N.Y./Dynamic Gymnastics; Jordyn Wieber, DeWitt, Mich./Gedderts’ Twistars USA; and Anna Li, Aurora, Ill./Legacy Elite Gymnastics LLC, alternate.
- Women’s all-around: Jordyn Wieber, DeWitt, Mich./Gedderts’ Twistars USA
- Women’s vault: McKayla Maroney, Laguna Nigel, Calif./All-Olympia Gymnastics
- Men’s parallel bars: Danell Leyva, Miami/Team Hilton HHonors
Bronze medals
- Men’s team: Jake Dalton, Reno, Nev./University of Oklahoma; Jonathan Horton, Houston/Team Hilton HHonors (Cypress Academy); Steven Legendre, Port Jefferson, N.Y./Team Hilton HHonors (University of Oklahoma); Danell Leyva, Miami/Team Hilton HHonors (Universal Gymnastics); Alexander Naddour, Gilbert, Ariz./University of Oklahoma; John Orozco, Bronx, N.Y./U.S. Olympic Training Center; and Chris Brooks, Houston/Team Hilton HHonors (Cypress Academy), alternate.
- Women’s balance beam: Jordyn Wieber, DeWitt, Mich./Gedderts’ Twistars USA
- Women’s floor exercise: Alexandra Raisman, Needham, Mass./Brestyan’s American Gymnastics
Women’s competition
The U.S. women began the competition by winning the team gold medal, just the USA’s third team gold in history (2003, 2007). The squad banded together after team captain Sacramone was unable to compete due to injury and won the team title with a 179.411, four points ahead of second-place Russia (175.329). The USA has won a women’s team medal at every World Championships that has had a team competition since 2001: 2010, silver; 2007, gold; 2006, silver; 2003, gold; and 2001, bronze. Other World team medals were won in 1995, bronze; 1994, silver; and 1991, silver.
Two days later, the women’s all-around gold medal battle went down to the last routine, and Wieber emerged with the title after bouncing back from an error on the uneven bars to slip by Russia’s Victoria Komova. She is just the sixth U.S. woman to claim the prestigious title, joining Kim Zmeskal (1991), Shannon Miller (1993-94), Chellsie Memmel (2005), Shawn Johnson (2007) and Bridget Sloan (2009). Raisman also persevered after a bars mistake to finish fourth.
Maroney vaulted to the event’s gold medal via her Amanar and Yurchenko half-on, front layout half off. She is the third straight U.S. woman to win the vault title – Kayla Williams in 2009 and Sacramone in 2010.
On the balance beam, Wieber claimed the event’s bronze medal, and Raisman was fourth. Raisman earned the floor exercise bronze medal, with Wieber in sixth. On the uneven bars, both Wieber and Douglas competed in the finals, finishing fourth and fifth, respectively.
Men’s competition
For the first time since 2003, the U.S. men were on the World Championships team medals podium. The team challenged Japan for the silver medal, missing second place by a mere 0.010. China won the team title. The USA’s previous team medals came in 1979 (bronze), 2001 (silver), and 2003 (silver).
Leyva won the parallel bars gold medal, becoming the first U.S. man to win a World individual event title since 2003 and the first on the parallel bars since Sean Townsend in 2001.
In the men’s all-around, Orozco continued to push to finish fifth after struggling on the first few events. Leyva had an unfortunate mishap on the high bar and was unable to complete his last event, finishing 24th. Japan’s Kohei Uchimura won his third straight title.
In the other individual event finals, Legendre finished fifth, his highest at a World Championships, in the floor exercise final, where Dalton, a last minute replacement for Romania’s Marian Dragulescu, was eighth. Horton was seventh in the still rings final, and Orozco was eighth for the horizontal bar.