Payson thought about it all the way back to the Olympic Village and then again for nearly an hour when she got back to her room. The party celebrating the men's team silver medal would be in the village and much more subdued than the one the night before. Both all-around competitions were the next day, the men in the morning, the women at night and it was safer and easier for all the competitors to stay in one spot.
She was sitting in the center of her bed watching Kelly put the finishing touches on her makeup when she finally came to a decision. She stood suddenly and marched out of their room.
"PK where are you going?" Kelly called out, but Payson ignored her.
She made it to the door and saw it was propped open, like most of the doors on the Team USA gymnastics floor. She pushed past it and strode into their room.
"Carter, get out, I need to talk to my friend."
Carter Anderson stared at her, toothbrush hanging from his mouth, just a towel wrapped around his waist, obviously only half way ready for the party.
Austin turned from where he was fixing his hair in the mirror just across the room, "No, Carter, stay, this should be fun."
Carter turned to Payson and took her in. She knew the picture she presented. She was dressed to the nines, a form fitting black dress, high heels, hair blown out and styled and much more makeup than was her wont, but she was also furious and she looked it. She lifted an eyebrow at him and he made his decision, the right one in her book, leaving the room quickly and shutting the door behind him.
Her hands landed on her hips and she shook her head, "What were you thinking?" she asked.
"Congratulations, Austin on winning another Olympic medal. I'm so proud of you, Austin. You're going to do great tomorrow in the all-around," he ranted loudly and Payson felt her anger fade, if ever so slightly.
She sighed, "I am proud of you, so incredibly proud of you, but you made a mess, Tucker, a big one."
Austin bit his lip and nodded at her softer tone, "I know. I don't know what I was thinking, but it was just a crazy night, you know?"
Payson nodded and sat down on his bed, crossing her legs, one foot bouncing in agitation, "Kelly was hurt, she hasn't said it, but she is and Kaylie, did you tell her you're moving to London? She thinks…she thinks..." Words failed her as Austin sat down beside her, his hair long forgotten. Obviously he knew the thoughts Kaylie was probably spinning, thoughts of the two of them, together, in Boulder…when he would be in London training for 2016.
"I know. You're right, I did make a mess," he said. "And you know the shitty part? I love Kaylie, but I know I can't be with her, at least not right now and I actually really like Kelly and I guess I screwed that up too."
They sat in silence for a moment until he stood quickly, "I'll deal with it, Payson. I'll put everything right, tonight. I promise. I never meant to hurt either of them."
Payson nodded, but she wasn't sure what he could do at this point. Kaylie was going to be devastated, but she deserved to know the truth. "I'm glad," she said and then stood up. "I am really proud of you, you know? And you are going to do great in the all-around tomorrow."
Austin smiled, "So are you and you look great by the way. Intent on torturing our coach tonight?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow at her deliberately alluring outfit.
Payson laughed, "I promised Kelly she was allowed to dress me up one night we were here and she needed some cheering up tonight, so…this is the result."
He shook his head, studying her carefully, "Poor Sasha," he concluded finally, as she rolled her eyes at his exaggerated perusal of her assets.
She stood up and smoothed the lines of her dress down and nodded, "See you later, Austin and congratulations again. I am so proud of you."
She embraced him quickly and then left the room. Carter was leaning up against the opposite wall, still in his towel, arms crossed over his chest.
She shrugged and smiled, "Thanks."
He raised his hands in surrender, signaling it was no problem and went back into his room to finish getting ready.
Payson sighed making her way back down the hallway. It's going to be an interesting night.
Whenever Austin Tucker entered a party, it wasn't unusual for every eye in the room to immediately focus upon him. He was after all a pretty big deal in his sport of choice and also, in that sport, he tended to tower over most of the party goers. This was no exception, with the added bonus that this party was, at least in part, for him.
He saw Payson and Sasha in the corner, his best friend chattering away while Sasha still looked a bit slack-jawed at her dress, he caught sight of Emily, once again watching out for Izzy Ruggeri, as she did often when the younger gymnast was in the company of a much older crowd and then his eyes landed on Kelly, who was dancing with some guy he didn't recognize. His eyes met hers over the guy's shoulder and she glared at him. He sighed and gave her the best apologetic look he could manage.
"I'm sorry," he mouthed and she rolled her eyes sharply, but then her eyes softened a little, something he'd never seen before.
Just then a flash of pink caught his eye in the far corner of the room. Kaylie was standing with Lauren, they were speaking and gesturing wildly and though he couldn't tell exactly what they were talking about, he had a sneaky suspicion his name had come up in conversation.
His eyes flickered back to Kelly, who was still looking in his direction and suddenly Austin felt the room close in around him. He'd come into the party thinking about what Payson said, thinking that he had to apologize to Kelly for being a jerk and then talk to Kaylie about his move to London, but it had not fully sunk in that he may in fact have a choice to make.
Kelly Parker, funny, smart, sarcastic, great in bed and refreshingly uncomplicated or Kaylie Cruz, the girl who'd had him twisted up in knots for the last three years, the girl he'd made love to just that morning, despite all the warning bells ringing in his head that it just wasn't a good idea.
So, Tucker, what's it going to be?
Kaylie looked up from her conversation with Lauren, most of which revolved around her blonde best friend digging for details of her night and morning, when she saw Austin moving purposefully towards her.
"We need to talk," he said softly, "alone."
She looked to Lauren who grinned and slipped away into the sea of people. Her eyes found Austin's again and he sighed, "C'mon, somewhere private, it's too loud in here."
His hand slipped to the small of her back, leading her out of the large common area to the hallway and then into one of the smaller meeting rooms. The pulsing beat of the music could still be heard, but they were most definitely alone.
She'd been looking forward to this all day.
"I never got to congratulate you," she said, smiling up at him. "You were great today and you are definitely going to win tomorrow. Imagine if we both won tomorrow, wouldn't that be just…incredible."
Austin nodded and sighed, running a hand through his hair.
Kaylie blinked, he didn't look happy, in fact he looked agitated. "Is everything okay?"
Her words were barely out of her mouth before he shook his head, "No, everything isn't okay, Kaylie. I lied to you. Or well, I didn't lie exactly as leave out something important."
She shook her head, stepping closer to him, "Whatever it is, it doesn't matter, Austin. I don't care."
"I'm moving to London," he said over her words, not hearing tem and looking away from her. "After the games, Payson and Sasha are moving here and I've got another quadrennial or two in me. Sasha's my coach and I go where he goes."
"London," Kaylie said, biting her lip. She hadn't given much thought to life after the Olympics, but her plans certainly hadn't included uprooting herself. She'd thought about college, UC Boulder or somewhere warm, California maybe, but London? Living nearly six thousand miles away from her friends and family, for a guy?
"I should have told you this morning, before we…before we went too far. It wasn't fair to you. I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. I was wrong," Austin said, moving back another step and then two.
Kaylie swallowed harshly. He was apologizing, which meant he regretted his actions, regretted sleeping with her, regretted telling her he loved her. "So this is it then? We make love and that's it…you're sorry and you were wrong? And you're moving to London?"
"I can't ask you to give up your life for me, Kaylie. That's what I'd be doing. There isn't anything for you here. Hell, the only thing for me here is my gymnastics, but you've got this whole world opening up to you outside of the sport."
"So you don't want me to stay here with you," she said, trying desperately to understand what he was telling her. Did he want her or not?
He sighed, "I know what I want Kaylie. We've been back and forth with this thing between us for years now, but we've always been gymnasts first and everything else second and that means I have to be in London. Somehow, I don't think that's what you want."
Kaylie nodded. She swallowed back the part of her that wanted very much to kick and scream and cry and tried to look at this the way he was, objectively. He was right; she wasn't going to move to London, they both knew that. So what would be the point of lying to themselves, of pretending like there would be a future for them when there so clearly wasn't?
"Okay," she said, finally, nodding quickly. She looked up and met his gaze. "Okay, thanks I guess, for being honest with me."
Austin took a deep breath and then silently stood, leaving the room.
"One last thing," Kaylie called to his retreating back. "Tell Payson she should stay and enjoy the party, one or two in the morning should do it. I'm going to bed."
He turned to her and his eyes laughing and he winked. "Good luck tomorrow, Kaylie."
"You too, Austin."
Payson and Kaylie stood together in the well that surrounded the raised podium that just two days before they'd won their team gold medal on. Payson looked sideways towards Kaylie. Today they were teammates, but they were also competitors. She took a deep breath and looked around them quickly. They'd both qualified in the top four during the team preliminary round and so they, along with Genghi Cho and Cho's roommate, LiJu Cheung were grouped together for the four rotations.
They were set to compete on beam first and Payson eyed LiJu Cheung. The gymnast reported to be seventeen years old, but looked much more like Payson had at nine was a phenomenal beamer. She'd outscored Payson in both the preliminary round and the team final on the event, as had Genghi Cho.
Payson smirked to herself; of course she'd done a different routine during the team competitions than she planned for the individual all-around and the beam finals later in the week. During the week she'd performed a solid beam routine, earning scores in the mid-sixteens, but she knew for this competition she'd need one closer to seventeen. She and Sasha had planned ahead and incorporated a flexible aerial series and dismount, both could be changed, depending upon the situation and the scores put up by her competition, but Payson knew she'd have to pull out all the stops on this day.
The skills would have been too risky to attempt when the team was relying on her scores, but this was an all together different situation. There was a target on her back, each of these girls, Kaylie included, would be looking to knock her off, waiting for her to crack open the door, allowing them to kick it in and she was not about to let that happen. It was a calculated risk and one she was more than willing to take.
She glanced over at Sasha who smiled encouragingly from just a few feet away where he was helping Kaylie wrap her wrists tightly just as he would for her in a moment. Kaylie looked confident, though she knew she'd gone through an emotional roller coaster over the last few days. She hoped her friend would do well.
It was the last thought she spared for anyone else. Today was the final all-around competition of her career, the last time she would go out onto the floor to compete in this way, the last time this kind of perfection on all four disciplines would be required and it demanded all of her focus.
Al Trautwig waited for the signal from his producer and then as the red light blinked to life on the camera, letting him know they'd returned from their commercial break, he began, "It's by a strange twist of fate, that at the start of the Women's Individual All-Around, the top group of qualifiers, which includes World Champion, Payson Keeler, her American teammate Kaylie Cruz, World silver medalist Genghi Cho and her teammate LiJu Cheung, would be starting on beam. It's funny because the fourth qualifier, the young woman with the lowest score of this elite group, Kaylie Cruz will lead off the rotation on beam, the same apparatus that she had one of the strangest mental lapses we've seen from any competitor at these games."
"We did, Al," Tim Daggett agreed. "Kaylie usually finishes her beam routine with a two and a half twist, a very difficult dismount and one she can perform beautifully, but for some reason she attempted a triple twist, a dismount she'd only landed a few times in competition and not the skill she'd been training for these games."
"Well, here we go. Kaylie Cruz will lead off the rotation with our top four qualifiers," Al said as Kaylie approached the beam.
"She looks confident up there, just like she did the other day," Elfie commented. "Up until the dismount, that routine she put together on Tuesday was one of the best beam routines I'd ever seen Kaylie do and that includes the routine she did a few years ago to beat Genghi Cho out for gold on the beam at an invitational meet back in Boulder, Colorado. Kaylie's a different gymnast now than she was then, but she's still capable of great things and so far, this beam routine is a lot like what we saw during the team final."
"I agree, Elfie. Not a balance check or a wobble from this former National Champion and there's her major aerial series, which she lands with no problem at all," Tim said. "Now just the dismount…"
"Now that's more like it," Al said.
"Exactly, Kaylie landed her two and a half twist beautifully and that's going to get her off to a great start."
"And Payson Keeler is there to hug her as she goes back down the stairs to wait for her score," Al added.
"Those girls have been training together since they were twelve years old. It's incredible that they're here together like this," Elfie added.
"There's the score for Kaylie Cruz, a 16.5."
"That's what she would have received the other day; just a great job by her and it's got to be a weight off her shoulders to get this one out of the way."
Payson hugged Kaylie tightly and they waited for her score together. As the score flashed on the screen, Kaylie's hand squeezed hers and she smiled, before moving away. Payson had qualified in the top spot, so she would be performing last.
She watched Sasha move over to Kaylie to embrace her quickly. "Great job," she heard him say. "Floor next, get some water and try to relax."
Then she felt him at her shoulder, "So we're going full throttle?" he asked, though she knew it wasn't really a question.
She nodded quickly, fiddling with the wraps at her wrists, "Yeah, I'm going to do the full twist instead of the layout and I'll add my dismount."
It was a move she'd trained for just over a year now, but had never needed in competition. Once she did however, it would likely bear her name. No one had ever landed a double arabian stretched dismount, but she'd been landing it consistently in both practice and in podium training. There wasn't any reason why she couldn't do it in just about five minutes.
"You can win this without them," Sasha said. He had to say it, had to present that option to her.
She glanced up at him from beneath her lashes and heard him suck in a quick breath, "I wouldn't want to win it without them." He chuckled, "and besides," she added, as the score went up for LiJu Cheung's routine, an impressive 16.85, "Cheung needs to know that score isn't going to hold up in the beam final."
"Wow, that was an incredible beam routine from LiJu Cheung. That ties her own high score set during the team finals. It's a routine that could put a major kink in Payson Keeler's quest for six gold medals as well. Payson's highest score on beam in this competition is a 16.45," Tim said.
"And here's Genghi Cho's beam routine, which might not pull as high a score as Cheung's, but it's still incredible and will also be a challenge for Payson Keeler to match."
Payson closed her eyes and controlled her breathing, blocking out the sounds of the arena, the floor music, the crowd's ever present hum and outbursts at a particularly well-executed or poorly executed skill. She could hear Genghi Cho's feet pounding over and over again on the beam and then finally, the sound of the younger girl's feet hitting the mat as she performed her triple twisting Gainer off the side of the beam.
She waited for Cho to skip down the steps before moving up onto the raised floor, chalking her hands and feet lightly, as Sasha set up her spring board, testing it quickly with just a couple of hops. He moved past her and gave her shoulder a light squeeze as she watched Cho's score be posted up on the large screen, a 16.7.
Payson smiled to herself, though she knew the cameras were capturing every moment and the commentators were probably speculating as to the source of her amusement.
"Well, despite the very strong starts by the Chinese gymnasts and by her own teammate, all of whom just scored higher than Payson did in either of her beam routines thus far in competition, Payson is looking pretty relaxed," Al said.
"I wouldn't say, relaxed, Al," Tim said, "she looks amused almost, like she knows something we don't, which I have to say is interesting. We might be in for some fireworks right now."
"Payson mounts the beam with her round-off arabian walk-over. It's a mount you don't see a lot of. In talking to Sasha Beloff and Payson herself, they like to incorporate arabian skills into her routine due to the half twist in the entry. Because Payson is so tall for an elite gymnast, the half twist gives the rest of her body a little more time to catch up during an element," Elfie said.
"This routine is gorgeous from beginning to end," Tim added. "She has beautiful combinations, gorgeous extension and tons of variety. You don't see many of these skills performed anymore. Here's my favorite part, a free aerial cartwheel, her hands don't touch the beam and then into a side salto in the opposite direction. So creative," he gushed.
"Now her aerial series, the same one made famous by Shawn Johnson, double flic-flac, layout," Eflie said. "Oh wow! That wasn't a layout! That was a double flic-flac into a layout with a full twist. You were saying something about fireworks, Tim?"
"This is incredible stuff. It's amazing to me. She raises the bar yet again and now just her dismount, a arabian double front, or not…that was….well it was an arabian double front, but from the stretched position instead of traditional tucked, first performed by Carly Patterson and as far as I know, folks, that's the first time that skill has ever been landed in competition successfully."
"So, that'll be called a Keeler?" Al asked.
"There's a new code of points coming out next year, Al," Tim said, "and I imagine that dismount will be named after her."
"Look at that smile on her face too. She embraces her teammate Kaylie Cruz whose jaw dropped in shock as Payson dismounted the beam and then she jumped to her feet and pumped her fist in the air when she saw her teammate stick the landing, "Elfie added.
"I think we have a shot of Sasha Beloff watching her as well," Al said, "here we go, just as she goes into her aerial series, there's Sasha, hand over his mouth, watching intently as she lands that layout with a full twist that still has Tim drooling on his notes and now she goes for the dismount and he just raises his arms in victory immediately. Obviously these changes were planned, but I think that's the most nervous we've seen him look all week."
"That was amazing," Kaylie said to her as she moved from her embrace.
"Fantastic," Sasha added from the side, an arm sliding over her shoulder as they waited for her score.
She knew she hadn't given the judges much to deduct and then she smiled as the 16.855 was posted up on the score board, giving her a thin .005 lead over LiJun Cheung and a .155 lead over Genghi Cho.
"Excellent job, the both of you. C'mon, line up, we've got floor next," Sasha said, moving away from her as the girls grabbed their bags and stood at the end of the line waiting to move towards the floor exercise.
Payson kept her eyes straight ahead, but she couldn't help by notice both Cho and Cheung turn quickly and glance at her. Their expressions were impossible to read, but she allowed herself to think that perhaps she'd rattled the usually unflappable Chinese gymnasts.
Kim Keeler and Ronnie Cruz had very little in common. However, their very different paths in life had led them to this moment, sitting next to each other at the Olympic Games watching their daughters compete for the individual All-Around gold medal.
"Did you know she was going to do that?" Kim asked Marty Walsh who was sitting in the row just behind them. It was less awkward than it could have been, had Alex Cruz, along with his son Leo not taken seats closer to the floor itself instead of in the luxury box the girls had reserved for their families.
Marty snorted, shaking his head, "No, I had no idea. Your daughter has ice water running through her veins, Kim. Debuting a new skill at the Olympic Games. That just doesn't happen."
Kim laughed, "We still don't know where she got that from."
"Bruce Jenner," Mark whispered into her ear and Kim snorted.
"Kaylie's in fourth," Ronnie said, disappointment laced in her tone.
Marty shook his head and turned to her, "That's not a bad place for her to be. She's only a few tenths behind and she's stronger than Cheung on the remaining three events. She's definitely still in this, Ronnie," he said, patting her shoulder gently.
Kim watched as Ronnie turned to him smiling and she couldn't help a small smile of her own as she turned to Mark with eyebrows raised. He shook his head, his eyes twinkling at her.
They watched Kaylie go out the floor and as usual, bring the crowd to its feet during her routine.
As Kaylie nailed her final tumbling pass, then fluttered down to the ground to the music into her final pose, Ronnie leapt up and screamed loudly, applauding wildly for her daughter's excellent routine. She and Kim embraced quickly and then Kim watched as she turned and hugged Marty as well, who returned the embrace fully.
Kim cheered as Kaylie's score was posted, a 16.05, hopefully narrowing Cheung's lead on her and bringing her closer to the podium.
She sat back into her seat and took Mark's hand as they watched LiJu Chung perform very well, scoring a 16.035, keeping her just ahead of Kaylie, but her hold on the bronze medal slipping just a bit.
As Genghi Cho took the floor, Kim squeezed Mark's hand tightly. "Here we go," she said, her stomach in knots as the tiny Chinese phenom practically flew through the air without half the grace of their daughter, but with such a high level of difficulty that her score would certainly be incredible.
The crowd cheered loudly as Payson took the floor at the same time Cho's score was posted, a 16.4. Then, as seemed to be tradition, as Payson's music started, the crowd fell into silence, simply watching the gymnast Kim still couldn't believe was her daughter. When she was out there competing, Kim still had issues marrying that girl who could do such phenomenal things with the little girl she raised. With each death defying acrobatic skill, Kim held her breath and then it was over.
Payson rose from her finishing position on the mat and saluted the judges and crowd, which exploded at the final note of her music. Then, as they waited for the score, the chant of, "Ten! Ten! Ten!" filtered through the arena.
She caught sight of Payson, hugging Kaylie and then Sasha. They lingered for a moment and Sasha brushed a kiss across her daughter's forehead before releasing her.
Then the score went up…
"A 16.55 for Payson Keeler," Al said, "that's not what this crowd was looking for and to be honest, that routine didn't look all that much different from the one she received a perfect ten on just a couple of days ago. Tim, Elfie, explain?" he asked.
Tim scoffed lightly, "Sometimes there isn't any explanation. I agree with you, Al. That routine looked picture perfect from here and they gave her a ten on execution on Tuesday and on Thursday a 9.65. It's a little baffling."
"More than a little baffling, but that's the sport sometimes," Elfie said, "the judges are human and I guarantee Payson Keeler isn't thinking about it at all, she's already moved onto bars, which if everyone remembers is her best event and the score that clinched the team gold for the United States."
"Also keep it mind, a 16.55 is nothing to sneeze at," Al added, "and that it's still enough to give Payson Keeler as substantial lead over the rest of the field."
Payson turned and caught Sasha staring at the score board as Kaylie warmed up her bars routine. Her eyes followed his and she took a deep breath. She was halfway home and Kaylie was well within striking distance.
Keeler, Payson [USA] – 33.405
Cho, Genghi [CHN] – 33.100
Cheung, LiJu [CHN] – 32.885
Cruz, Kaylie [USA] – 32.550
"Stay focused and slam the door shut, right now," Sasha said, his hand landing on her shoulder, the callous roughened pad of his thumb brushing against her pulse point.
"Kaylie's still in this," she said softly as she watched Kaylie chalk her hands lightly and then wait for the judge's flag to go up.
"Don't let the standings fool you, folks," Tim said, "Kaylie Cruz, despite sitting in fourth place with two rotations to go, is still very much in this medal hunt. She can score huge numbers in the sixteens in these next two events. She did this bars set in the team preliminary rounds well enough, but she's capable of a much higher score, if she'd just…yep, that's what I was going to say, if she just hits her hand stands. That's where the judges were deducting during the first day of competition, but she's hitting them today, dead on twelve o'clock above the bar. Excellent release combination coming up, not the most difficult you'll see, but she executes them extremely well."
"She's really hitting this routine," Elfie said, "if she can stick this dismount, a full twisting double layout."
"Wow!" Tim exclaimed. "That's a great routine by Kaylie Cruz with an exclamation point on it, a stuck landing, that's going to bring in a very big score, much higher than that 16.25 she received on the first day of competition and there it is, a 16.85."
"And the first person to hug her again, Payson Keeler," Al said. "I've got to say it's really nice to see this genuine friendship between these two girls. They are whole heartedly rooting for each other."
"As a gymnast all you want is to go out there and do your best and when you're a part of a team you want that for your teammates as well and that's what we're seeing here from the Americans and the Chinese for that matter. We're seeing some incredible gymnastics today."
Austin Tucker sat in the stands, his heart racing for the two girls out on the floor. He hadn't been this nervous all day, not even in the gut wrenching moment between the end of his pommel horse routine and when his score had gone up, making him the Olympic men's All-Around champion for the second time.
The nerves were simply from lack of control. When he was out on the floor competing he had told control over the outcome, but now he had to sit back and watch. A small warm hand patted him gently on the knee and he looked over at Kelly with a smile.
"She's halfway there," she told him reassuringly.
She hadn't wanted to come at first and he really hadn't blamed her. She'd missed qualifying for the all-around by a few tenths of a point thanks to several balance checks in her beam routine and a rather large hop on her vault landing. He'd begged however and she relented eventually.
"I'm not going for you. I'm going for Payson," she'd insisted. "I'm new to this whole being friends thing, but I'm pretty sure PK would come and watch me if the roles were reversed."
"Those Chinese girls are so not fifteen," Austin muttered, as he watched a distinctly pre-pubescent LiJu Cheung, at least in appearance, fly through the air over the high bar.
Kelly snorted, "Tell me about it. I'm just glad we beat them flat out so ten years from now we aren't suddenly awarded medals because the IOC disqualified their asses. Those Romanian girls are so getting a silver medal in a few years."
Cheung landed lightly on her feet after a very good bars set and they waited for her score as Genghi Cho warmed up. The score flashed up onto the standings board and he pulled out his cell phone quickly, trying to do the math for Kaylie.
.06
His cell phone calculator gave him the answer and his eyebrows shot upwards in response. Kaylie was six hundredths of a point behind LiJu Cheung for the bronze.
"Keeler's got this in the bag," Kelly said, glancing up at the score board, "It's not even close and she's going to nail a seventeen on bars again."
Austin turned towards Kelly as Genghi Cho finished her routine solidly, "You're retiring after the games, right?" he asked.
Kelly nodded, "Yeah, time to soak up some more endorsements and go jet set," she said with a grin.
"How do you feel about London?" he asked, trying to sound casual and probably failing miserably.
"As a city?" Kelly turned to him, as the crowd cheered for Genghi Cho's score.
"As a place where I'll be living, training with Sasha…"
Kelly tilted her head at him and narrowed her eyes, "Are you asking me something important?"
He nodded, "I think maybe I am," he said, turning his attention back onto the floor as Payson flew off the bar, catching it again handily.
"I have a boyfriend, you know," Kelly informed him.
"You have a boyfriend and I fell in love with a girl I can't have," he said, clarifying their situation. "Sounds like we make a pretty good pair."
"I'll think about it," she said, but her hand dropped to his and squeezed it lightly, just as Payson released the bar and stuck her landing to the delight of the crowd that roared in approval of yet another phenomenal routine.
"Wow, that's all I can say," Tim said, shaking his head. "I don't know quite how to describe just how good these girls are, they are hitting clean routine after clean routine and the difficulty levels are just insane. It's Payson Keeler and Genghi Cho battling it out for the all-around title, while Kaylie Cruz and LiJu Cheung are fighting to see who will take that coveted final spot on the podium."
"And here's where we stand after three of the four rotations," Al said.
Keeler, Payson [USA] – 50.430
Cho, Genghi [CHN] – 50.050
Cheung, LiJu [CHN] – 49.435
Cruz, Kaylie [USA] – 49.375
"Kaylie Cruz is just six hundredths of a point behind LiJu Cheung and I'll be honest, Al, if she lands her vault in this rotation, I don't think it'll even be close, she'll definitely be the the all-around bronze medalist," Tim said.
"Absolutely," Elfie agreed. "Kaylie's vault is much more difficult than LiJu's and she's been hitting it consistently."
"So here's Cruz, after a bit of an up and down team competition, she's one vault away from being an all-around medalist."
Kaylie flew down the runway and launched into her vault, flipping and twisting around in the air, landing on her felt, just a small bend in her knees to cushion the landing.
"That should do it, Al," Tim said, unless the judges see something that wasn't there, that vault should put her on the podium."
"Anything over a 16.1 will do it," Elfie said, "That's the maximum score LiJu Cheung can receive."
"And there it is, a 16.4 for Kaylie Cruz and she'll be our leader for a few more moments until Genghi Cho vaults."
"Now this will be interesting, Al, because in the team preliminary competition, China played it safe a little and Genghi Cho performed a double twisting Yurchenko vault, which she landed cleanly. Then in the team final, out of nowhere, Genghi attempted a Produnova, the same vault Payson Keeler has been dominating with for the last few years, but missed it pretty badly. It'll be interesting to see which vault she goes with, locking up a silver with the Yurchenko or going for the gold with the Produnova."
"There's her start value, it looks like she's going for the Produnova."
"She'll handspring off the horse and after that initial rotation do two more front saltos," Tim said, as she began sprinting down the runway.
Payson watched as the 7.1 degree of difficulty flashed on the board behind the tiny Chinese gymnast. She held her breath as the girl came off the springboard hard, pressing against the vault and launching herself into the air.
She didn't allow herself to blink because she knew as soon as Cho's hands touched the horse that it would be a disaster. She knew because before she'd begun to land the Produnova consistently, she'd made the same mistake, too much power and torque off the table and there was no stopping yourself, no way to slow your momentum. Cho tucked herself into a ball and rotated twice in the air, but didn't open up soon enough, landing on her knees, her hands barely coming out to break her fall and prevent her face from slamming into the mat.
The crowd groaned and Payson finally blinked. She took a deep breath, watching Cho get up onto her feet, raising her arms over her head in salute to the judges and as Payson exhaled, she turned towards Kaylie who didn't seem to realize what that meant.
She met Sasha's eyes and he nodded to her, "Go, you have to vault. It'll hit her in a second," he said.
Payson nodded and moved up onto the raised floor. She waited for the judge's signal flag, ignoring the score posted for Genghi Cho.
"I'm stunned, Al," Tim said, "She didn't just miss that vault, that was a complete and total disaster for her."
"She went for it and you really can't fault her for that, but I suppose hind sight is twenty/twenty and she attempted that vault twice in these games and both times failed miserably, you have to wonder why her coaches would let her attempt it at all," Elfie added.
"And now here's Payson Keeler, who is waiting patiently for the flag to go up, but it seems that the judges are having a hard time scoring Genghi Cho's vault. And there's the score finally, a 15.700 for Cho and there's the flag for Payson Keeler, her final skill of the afternoon."
It was the complete opposite of what she'd just witnessed from Genghi Cho. The amount of momentum from the springboard onto the horse was perfect and her body felt weightless as she pushed off into her double tuck. Her legs unfolded exactly when they had to, late enough to complete her rotations fully, but early enough to soften the landing just a bit. Her feet stuck into the mat and she raised her arms above her head immediately.
Then she raced off the podium straight to where Kaylie and Sasha were already embracing. She didn't need to look at the scoreboard, but as she pulled away, tears streaming down her face as well as the cheeks of her teammate, she couldn't help herself.
Women's Individual All-Around: Final Standings
Keeler, Payson [USA] – 67.230
Cruz, Kaylie [USA] – 65.775
Cho, Genghi [CHN]- 65.750
Kaylie was literally bouncing up and down as they hugged again. They'd imagined something like this since they were twelve years old, since that initial, slightly awkward introduction next to the beam at the Rock and here they were, gold and silver, Olympic all-around medalists. They pulled away, waving up into the crowd. Kaylie's father and brother were just a few rows up from the floor and she moved closer to the wall to try and take their hands as they both reached down over the railing.
Payson looked up towards the box she knew her parents and Becca were sitting in and she waved wildly in that direction though she really couldn't see them. Then she felt Sasha's arms slide around her waist, pulling her back into him. She spun around quickly and for the second time kissed him deeply in front of all the cameras and fans who cheered loudly.
"Are you going to do that every time you win a gold medal?" he whispered against her lips as they broke apart.
"Absolutely." She smiled, wrapping her arms around his neck to keep him close. "Two down, four to go."