A/N: This took forever, but it's finally here!
"Well a very good afternoon! And welcome to the North Greenwich Arena. You're with me, Matt Baker, and sitting here alongside me in the commentary box is Christine Still and Mitch Fenner, as the gymnasts enter into the arena for the individual all-around final. So that means that the gymnasts will work their way around four pieces of apparatus, vault, bars, beam, and floor. There we see the first group, the top qualifiers there. Mustafina at the back of that group. And they will be working their way, as we say, around all four pieces. Two gymnasts from the USA, Gabrielle Douglas and Jennifer Jareau… Viktoria Komova, Vanessa Ferrari, Deng Linlin, and Aliya Mustafina. They'll be starting on vault. We'll see action on all four pieces here, and as soon as the gymnasts are finished, they'll just move on to the next one. And it's the combined score of all four pieces that will take the Olympic title. So, Christine, predictions"
The music in the arena changed from the upbeat rhythm to something more intense as the volunteers began to lead them up the stairs and along the edge of the vault podium to stand before the judges. JJ and Gabby stood side by side, dressed in a deep magenta leotard that matched the colours around the arena. Around the neckline were hundreds of tiny crystals, dazzling their chests like a statement necklace, coupled with accents at their wrists. Taking a deep breath, JJ looked up and out at the arena. It seemed like there were even more people than there had been at the team final two days previously.
"Well… if Komova can for once work absolutely faultlessly, she probably has the most firepower. She's got the big bar routine, the 7.0 start value, and she's got the big vault, the 2.5 twist. But we haven't really seen her work faultlessly, not even in the training hall. So my best bet, if I were betting, would be Gabby Douglas from USA, who has really wowed the crowd here"
"Starting on the vault. Representing the United States of America… Gabrielle Douglas!"
Gabby stepped forward, waving to the crowd with a smile.
"Representing the United States of America… Jennifer Jareau!"
JJ stepped up, smiling proudly as she waved.
"Her teammate, Jennifer Jareau, you'll have to forgive me Christine but I seem to know even less about her than her younger teammate, other than she's the reigning World champion on balance beam"
"She's been a very solid member of the US team this year, and in fact, I think a lot of people were surprised that the USA opted to bring her instead of their reigning world all-around champion, Jordyn Wieber. But she is very strong, Matt, particularly on beam and floor. She's got the highest start value in the entire competition on beam, I think she was credited with a 7.1 in the team final which is just… astronomical to say the least.
"Representing the Russian Federation… Viktoria Komova!"
Even though she stood an inch taller than JJ, Viktoria was positively tiny in stature, but radiated elegance in the beautiful royal blue leotard the two Russians had chosen for the final. She was the clear favourite for the title, having qualified in first, but she still had to deliver the goods. She came in as the silver medallist in the previous year's world final, and as the 2010 Youth Olympic all-around champion.
"Representing Italy…. Vanessa Ferrari!"
The tiny Italian was four years older than JJ and four inches shorter, standing at just 4'6. She was the 2006 World all-around champion, the first to win the title under the open ended code. Having qualified in sixth, she was well positioned to snap up a medal should any of the stronger players make a mistake.
"Representing the People's Republic of China… Deng Linlin!"
Deng was the tiny top qualifier from China, who already had an Olympic gold medal under her belt. She had been part of the Chinese team that had won a historic gold medal in Beijing four years earlier, and was one of JJ's biggest competitors for the beam title later in the Games.
"Representing the Russian Federation… Aliya Mustafina!"
Aliya was the 2010 World all-around champion, coming back off a knee injury. Despite that injury, she had more than proved her worth in the team final, competing all four events faultlessly for her team to help them secure silver. She was well liked by the majority of the gymnastics community, carrying herself with an air of confidence and elegance that simply couldn't be taught.
"Starting on the uneven bars. Representing the People's Republic of China… Huang Qiushuang!"
Sandy watched on from above as the remaining competitors were announced. Joining Huang on bars were the two Romanians, Larisa Iordache and Sandra Izbasa. Also in that group were the diminutive Asuka Teramoto of Japan, Germany's Elisabeth Seitz, and the pioneer of Venezuelan gymnastics, Jessica Lopez. The next group earned a massive roar, as in it were the two British gymnasts, Hannah Whelan and Rebecca Tunney. Joining them were Guatemalan Ana Sofia Gomez, the Italian Carlotta Ferlito, Dutch Celine van Gerner, and Canadian Dominique Pegg. The very last group consisted of the two Australians, Emily Little and Ashleigh Brennan, French star Aurelie Malaussena, Teramoto's teammate Rie Tanaka, and the last two individual gymnasts, Giulia Steingruber of Switzerland, and Martha Pihan-Kulesza of Poland.
Every gymnast in the final deserved their place, without a doubt. Sandy felt a rush of emotion as she watched each girl step forward when their name was called. Whether it was in the arena or around the world, right now, there were 23 other mothers who surely felt as proud as she did right now.
"Gymnasts, your warm-up starts now!"
Warm-up was a quick and efficient blur, as it always was for JJ. She timed her entry, before doing her actual vault for her second touch. Both timers went extremely well, and JJ was surprised to find herself feeling quite confident as she rejoined Nick on the sidelines.
Gabby was already up by the end of the runway, so JJ went to stand by the stairs nearby, so she was ready to go when it was her turn to take the stage. Even though she was focused, she wanted to see Gabby off to a good start as well, so she clapped her hands together and shot her teammate a smile.
"You got it Gabby!" she called encouragingly. She saw Gabby's lips quirk up into a small smile as she saluted the judges, before stepping onto the runway and lining herself up. With a deep breath and a focused gaze, the young gymnast took off down the runway. She was slight, but powerful as she hurdled towards the springboard.
Flipping back, Gabby pushed hard off the table, but her height in the air was never anything compared to McKayla's. She was incredibly slight, even tinier than JJ as far as body mass went, and she also tended to twist onto the table before blocking. But she made the height work, wrapping the twists in ridiculously fast before her feet hit the ground. She was mere millimeters from going out, but the fight to stay in was clear in the smile on her face. When she was sure it was dead on, she turned and saluted the judges, her massive smile lighting up her entire face as she left the landing mat and jogged from the podium.
As soon as she had cleared the stairs, JJ headed up towards the chalk bowl. She robotically dusted her hands and feet, before glancing up to where Nick was positioning the springboard for her. He had switched it out for the higher number of springs. Even though she was slight, JJ had an incredibly powerful round-off, and they had found in the last 18 months as she reached her current body mass, that using the weaker springboard would either bottom out the board or catapult her clear over the table. As a compromise, the tougher board had definitely helped her find the sweet spot.
Gabby's score came up just a minute or so later, a massive 15.966 to get her all-around contest off to a strong start. JJ didn't notice however; she was too busy watching Nick. When he had the board where she wanted it relative to the table, she nodded once. He gave her a thumbs up, before quickly leaving the podium to wait at the bottom of the stairs. With the competition going efficiently as always, it wasn't too much longer before JJ got her green light. She dusted her hands through the chalk once more, adjusting her tiger paws before swinging her arms up into a salute.
Taking a deep breath, she stepped sideways onto the runway, lining her toes up with the chalk mark on the ground that indicated where she wanted to start. Looking up, she gazed at the table. She took a step back, tapping her toe against the mat before breaking into her run.
She hurdled cleanly onto the hand mat, her feet whipping down powerfully onto the board and ricocheting her back towards the table. She felt the block all the way through her shoulders, her body propelling off the table into the air. Once her hands had cleared the table, she wrapped in two tight twists, coming down neatly on the landing mat with only a little hop back to soak up her momentum.
She was beaming from ear to ear as she turned to salute the judges, before turning back on herself and heading down to where Nick was waiting.
"That was so much better than qualifications," Nick said warmly, giving her a tight squeeze, patting her on the back as they started walking back to her bag. "Really powerful, really clean, good job"
As she was digging her grips out of her bag, her score came up, joined by a frown from Nick.
"15.300? Where did they find five tenths?" he muttered quietly, so only JJ could hear. "But hey, you're still up half a point on qualifications, so it's a good start"
JJ paid no mind to the remainder of the rotation. She sat quietly beside Gabby, neither of them speaking as they prepared themselves for bars. They both had their own routines, and it was the constant repetition that helped them to focus themselves on their next event.
After taping her wrists with pre-wrap and a little bit of strapping tape, JJ tugged her sweatbands over her hands. They were starting to wear out, but they would see her through the end of the Olympics for sure. They were the same sweatbands she had been using since her first World Championships, and even though they were a little ratty and gross, she couldn't help but have a tiny bit of an attachment to them.
She was so focused that she hardly registered the rest of the rotation. But eventually, she was back on her feet, her grips securely on her hands and her jacket draped loosely over her shoulders. Habitually, she shook herself out, keeping herself warm and loose in preparation for bars. She had pulled on her track pants to keep her legs warm, and was staying as mentally focused on her next event as possible.
The rotation seemed to have flown by, and what felt like minutes later, they had fallen back into their line order. The upbeat music returned and they began to walk, following their volunteer leader around the uneven bars.
In Pittsburgh, JJ's closest friends were finally sitting down to watch the final. They had seen the opened few minutes of the broadcast, before connection issues had cut them out during the warmup. It had taken almost twenty minutes to get it back, meaning they had missed the entire first rotation and were only now seeing the girls warming up their second event.
"According the live scores, JJ's in third after her first event," Clayton said as Lani dropped herself into the chair beside him.
"That's good. Nice and steady," Mackenzie mused.
Standing beside the bars, JJ waited patiently for her score. Because Gabby had gone first in the first rotation, she had dropped back and would now compete last on bars. JJ would do the same when they came to beam. It would all culminate in the top six competing in reverse qualification order when they came to floor, capping off with Viktoria Komova, the top qualifier.
Her green light came, and she saluted with a smile.
"Now we have Jennifer Jareau, of the USA, on the asymmetric bars"
"She's a funny one on bars, because she can actually be very good on the event, I saw her get credited with a 6.6 at the American trials, but she quite often changes one of her skills to a lower value and sometimes breaks the connection after her Pak salto, which can drop it all the way down to a 6.1, and I believe she was credited with a 6.4 in the qualification round. It'll be interesting to see if she competes her full difficulty today"
Turning away from the high bar, she took a deep breath, before jumping and grasping the bar as her legs swung in an easy glide beneath the bar. Pulling herself up into a handstand, she held it strong for a few seconds, before swinging her legs down into a deep pike position beneath the bar. As she came back to the top of the low bar, she did a quick full turn, before swinging back into the same deep pike, releasing the bar and flinging herself up towards the high bar as she came back to the top. Normally, she would have continued into her piked Tkatchev, but she simply cast back to handstand, taking a moment to breathe atop the bar.
Her next move was the piked Tkatchev, high and floaty above the bar. She grasped it easily, returning to handstand, before swinging into a straddle position beneath the bar and releasing into a straddled Tkatchev. As she caught it, she carried through into a Pak salto, easily swinging through a stalder on the low bar after transitioning, and releasing again to do a half turn and recatch the high bar, now facing the correct way to dismount. Pulling up into a handstand, she easily swung through two giant swings, before releasing into a strong double layout. She hit the ground with a little of momentum, jumping forward slightly to catch herself, but otherwise, she was smiling as she turned to salute the judges to great applause.
"That was awesome kiddo!" Nick said happily as she walked over to him and hugged him tightly. "Good job!"
Beaming, she pulled away, heading over to the chalk bowl to grab her spray bottle before heading down the stairs. She got a hug of congratulations each from Gabby and Chow, but it was very brief, as Gabby wanted to remain focused on her own routine.
She was feeling more confident as she removed her grips and pulled off the tape underneath. Two strong events, with her strongest piece yet to come. A top eight finish was most definitely in her sights.
"So a very good bars routine from Jennifer gets a 15.500, which is actually quite a strong score when you consider she dropped a connection or two! And she has also made the bars final, so if she goes all out there, she's within a shout of a medal"
Once she was free of her grips, JJ spent the next few routines quietly running through some of her beam skills in the corner. But before too long, Gabby was up on bars, and she wanted to cheer her teammate on.
Even though JJ's bars at their highest difficulty were the same level of difficulty as Gabby's, JJ always found herself envious of the way Gabby swung bars. They were both good on the event, there was no denying, but Gabby had such a natural swing to her that just couldn't be taught. She watched, clapping as Gabby soared and swung between the bars as if it was what she was born to do, and when she released into her double layout dismount, JJ was cheering just as loud as the watching crowd.
"That was excellent work!"
"What about that? Well… she's happy… she's certainly in the right frame of mind, and she's got two pieces to go!"
"Well done," JJ said happily, hugging her younger teammate tightly as she reached her.
"Thanks," Gabby said through a breathless grin, walking alongside JJ back to their bags. She didn't have much time to get ready for the change of rotation, so JJ left her be, coming to stand beside Nick as they waited.
"She's doing well," Michael mused in the audience, squeezing his wife's hand. "Really well, I think that was one of her best bars routines I've seen her do!"
"Definitely," Sandy said softly, smiling as she watched the young British gymnast who was now tumbling across the floor. "Can you believe there's actually people out there who don't think she's any good as an all-arounder?"
"Mad," Michael scoffed with a laugh.
A few minutes later, all the rotation scores were finalized and they were moving to their third event. Gabby had earned a 15.733, putting her into the lead by over two tenths. JJ had dropped from third to fourth, but she herself hadn't looked at the scoreboard – all it did was make her nervous.
"This is where the magic happens," Will laughed as he watched the screen in front of him. "She'll blow them out of the water on beam"
"I still don't understand how she actually likes beam. It looks fucking terrifying," Lani said with a grin.
"I mean, it probably helps that she's like four foot nothing," Brenner replied. "It probably looks bigger when you're that little"
After the warm-ups, JJ retreated to the corner a little way away from their bags, continuing to run through her routine to keep herself calm and focused. Nick stood a little way away, half watching the competition, half watching what she was doing.
"Remember to bring your shoulders all the way up before you start to move on," he reminded her softly as she did a front aerial across the ground. She nodded, turning back and doing another one with his correction in mind. She kept her eyes well away from the beam. It was easier for her to compete without knowing how everyone before her had gone. The noise in the arena was a welcome distraction, between floor music, cheering, announcements… it was all the white noise that helped her focus.
Four routines in, she had heard the rise and fall of the noise that indicated someone had fallen. She glanced upwards, her eyes falling on the defeated stance of Aliya Mustafina, who was standing beside the beam looking as though she wanted nothing more than to chainsaw it in half. As Aliya pulled herself back up, JJ felt a rush of hope run through her belly. She felt bad for Aliya, who was a very sweet competitor and a beautiful gymnast, but her fall had opened the door for JJ to secure a medal.
But she had to compete. She had to keep her head in check and get through her own routine first.
She was last to go. Gabby had gone before her, delivering a consistent routine to earn her another mid 15s score. Keeping herself calm, JJ chalked up quickly, focusing on nothing but the skills before her. A small smile cracked through when she heard Aly's voice ring out like a bell from the crowd.
"Come on JJ, you got it!"
She moved to her starting point, watching the screen on the opposite side to know when to go. It didn't take too long before the stop sign turned green, and her 30 seconds to mount the apparatus began.
"On the beam, representing the United States of America, Jennifer Jareau!"
Saluting, JJ turned her body towards the end of the beam, taking a deep breath before starting her run towards the springboard. She punched hard, flipping cleanly through a pike to land solidly on the end of the beam. Wasting no time whatsoever, she executed her leap series, which carried her to opposite end of the beam. She used her choreography to turn herself around, before lining herself up for her first acrobatic series.
Flip, flip, layout full, earning a huge applause from the watching crowd.
"She is so good at that skill, I absolutely love it"
She immediately followed it up with two connected front aerials, Nick's corrections ringing in her mind as she pulled herself up. On the second one, she swung her arms over and down, before leaping back into an Onodi. It was dead on, and the hardest part of her routine was out of the way.
Punch off the springboard into a front tuck mount. She let out a tiny sigh of relief when her feet hit the beam solidly and she straightened up immediately. For her, the hardest part was over.
The rest of the routine was a walk in the park compared to the opening. Some more acrobatic skills to rack up connections and fulfill the requirements… choreography low to the beam… a full turn.
Her ten second chime rang out, right as she was preparing herself for the dismount. With a deep breath, she swung back, flipping easily down the length of the beam before punching hard into the air. She wrapped in her full twisting double tuck, putting effortlessly to her feet and turning to the judges with a smile begin enough to light a city.
"Yeah JJ! That's how it's done!" she heard McKayla yell amongst the applause, making her laugh as she left the podium in high spirits.
"Every time I think you've bested yourself on beam, you just prove me wrong," Nick chuckled, pulling her into a tight squeeze. "You are tracking so well tonight kiddo, no matter where you finish in the end, I'm proud of how well you've tackled this, considering it's your first all-around final"
"I kinda like it," JJ said with a giggle. "It's easy to just get in the zone and keep going. I'm really not as stressed out as I thought I would be"
Nick grinned. "Don't speak too soon. You still have floor"
Knowing she had done well, JJ eagerly watched the screen beside the beam, wanting to know exactly the score she had received.
When it came up, she gasped, turning to Nick with a stunned expression as the crowd above whooped and cheered.
"I got… 15.8!" she said breathlessly, unable to contain her happiness as Nick swooped her into a tight hug.
"15.866, JJ… holy hell, that's amazing!" he gushed, pulling back and patting her cheek with a smile. "Absolutely amazing!"
"Jesus, that's… wow!" Michael exclaimed, turning to Sandy who was just as stunned as he was. "Highest beam score of the Games, I think!"
"Without a doubt," Sandy laughed. "She's really just out to prove me wrong for worrying when she's up there"
Laughing, Michael clapped for the last competitor of the rotation as she left the floor.
Going into the last rotation, the standings were cemented as Gabby in first, Viktoria in second, and JJ in third as they headed for floor.
Gabby was up third to last. JJ hadn't watched the remaining routines, wanting to keep her head in check before floor, which could often be tricky for her if she wasn't in the right mindset. She had watched a little bit of Gabby's, clapping along to the energizing music, and mentally willing Gabby to stay inside the boundary lines as she nearly flew out on her double Arabian. It was electric, upbeat, and extremely well done, earning Gabby a final score of 15.033 to keep her in the lead with a 62.232.
The time between routines was fast. JJ barely waited two minutes before her green light came. When it did, she took a deep breath, putting on a smile as she saluted the judges before stepping out onto the floor and assuming her starting pose.
"So this young lady would need a 15.599 to pass her teammate for the gold, and unfortunately I think that's a bit of a stretch for her, but! She only needs a 12.933 to pass Aliya Mustafina and get herself onto the podium, and provided she has no major issues, that's going to be quite easy for her"
"Yes, I think she without a doubt will have an all-around medal here if she stays on her feet"
"Come on JJ, you're almost there," Will muttered, leaning towards the TV as JJ's namecard flashed up on the screen.
Her music started, upbeat like Gabby's, enticing the audience to clap along. She sped across the floor, rocketing into a strong double layout which she landed with zero movement. Her smile grew as she danced around the corner, and then she was tumbling back across the floor into her combo pass, a whip into a double Arabian. She landed it strongly, lifting her chin up high as she turned to perform the larger section of choreography.
As she lined up for her third pass a short while later, she took a deep breath in the corner. Taking off, she pushed hard into her triple, wrapping it around as cleanly as possible. She was slightly underrotated when she landed, having to shuffle to gain her balance, but she felt she had covered it as best as she could.
"Come on Jayje, one more pass!" Jason yelled from beside his mother as he clapped along with her music.
As she stared down the diagonal for her last pass, she felt a rush of excitement.
Surely she'd done it.
She took off, feeling strong and powerful as she flipped into her double pike, which she landed with another huge rebound like the team final. She was already smiling from ear to ear as she danced into her final pose, unable to believe that the cheers and applause was really for her.
"I think that should absolutely get her into the medals. It's just going to depend on Komova as to what colour it's going to be"
Giddy, beaming from ear to ear, JJ was wrapped in hugs from an equally happy Gabby, followed by hugs from Chow and Nick as well. She knew she had done enough to make the podium, she only needed around a 13 to pass Mustafina.
Her score came up a few moments later, a flat 15 to put her into second behind Gabby. Overwhelmed with joy, she turned, throwing her arms around Nick, who squeezed her tighter than ever.
"I did it!" she said excitedly, her eyes growing a little wet as she spoke. "Oh my god, I did it!"
"We still gotta find out the colour kiddo," Nick chuckled.
"I know but I don't care," JJ said breathlessly, pulling away from Nick. "It's an all-around medal either way… at the Olympics! After everyone said I wasn't a good all-arounder"
Nick beamed, wrapping an arm around JJ's shoulders and squeezing her again. "Don't ever believe the things people say online. You came out today with the goal of finishing in the top eight, and because you didn't put pressure on yourself for a medal, you were able to perform nearly faultlessly. I'm really, really proud of how you performed today. You've done incredibly well"
JJ couldn't wipe the smile off her face as Gabby came over to hug her. She was currently sitting in silver medal position, but even if she got knocked down to bronze, she didn't care in the slightest. She was overjoyed at just the knowledge of a medal alone. A medal she herself had never expected to have.
"The final competitor. Viktoria Komova. She needs 14.760 to pass the little American firecracker, Jennifer Jareau, and a 15.359 to match Gabby Douglas at the top. I think with a hit routine, she'll go into the silver medal position, but we'll have to see what happens about gold"
The sounds of Amy Winehouse filled the arena, and off Viktoria went. Her first tumbling run, a 1.5 stepout into a double Arabian, was finished with a beautiful landing. Every movement she made was perfect and precise, and it was clear she was putting every ounce of energy and perfection she had into this routine in her last attempt to claim the coveted all-around title.
Three more beautiful landings followed and when she finished the routine with the lasting impression of a stuck double pike, she was smiling for the first time all day.
The ruckus died down and the arena went deathly silent as they waited for Viktoria's score to come up. Had she done enough? Had she done enough to pass Gabby and be Olympic all-around champion?
JJ and Gabby were all smiles as they waited at the far end of the vault podium, around the corner from where Viktoria and Aliya were waiting desperately for Viktoria's score. They had done their jobs, and would be taking home a medal apiece regardless of Viktoria's score. Even so, it was a tense wait. Gabby was just seconds away from potentially being the Olympic all-around champion, and all it would take was one great score for a great routine to knock her back into silver.
Moments later, a deafening roar filled the arena and JJ watched as Viktoria dissolved into devastated tears. She didn't even need to check the scores. Turning, she threw her arms around Gabby in a tight hug, as the younger girl was overcome with emotion.
Gabby was the Olympic champion.
Pulling away as she choked back tears, Gabby clambered onto the vault podium to wave to the crowd as JJ beamed at her from the sidelines. JJ was ecstatic; she'd known her own chances for all-around gold were considerably slim unless both Gabby and Viktoria had major errors, so to take home the bronze was more than enough for her.
"Get up here with me," Gabby called out, reaching out and beckoning for JJ to join her. JJ wasted no time, hopping up beside her friend as they waved together to the crowd before hugging each other tightly again. For the second time in history, two Americans had made it to the all-around podium.
Whereas Tuesday night had been an overwhelming barrage of tears, this time, Sandy and Michael were all smiles as they hugged each other in the wake of their daughter's continued success.
"Mom, I don't think I'm going to make this team"
The memories flooded back to her, the night before JJ had made the team, reminding her of just how little JJ had believed in herself back then.
"Because the other girls… they're just better… stronger… Mom, Aly's going to end up going to London and I'm going to be staying home"
"She's come so far," Sandy breathed, just loud enough for Michael to hear. "I'm so proud of her"
"I always knew she had it in her," Michael said warmly, pressing a kiss to his wife's temple as the girls down below began to get ready to leave the arena and prepare for the victory ceremony.
It was hard to believe that JJ's time at the Olympics was effectively already halfway over… and yet she still had many more chances to achieve greatness.
"Winner of the bronze medal, representing the United States of America… Jennifer Jareau!"
Waving to the crowd as she stepped up onto the podium, JJ was filled with an incredible sense of pride. It only elevated as the lady who was presenting the medals shook her hand before slipping the bronze medal over her head. Then came Nellie Kim, a former Soviet Olympic champion gymnast, now the head of the Women's Technical Committee, to give her the bunch of flowers.
As Viktoria and Gabby were presented with their medals, JJ couldn't help admire her own bronze medal. Yes, it wasn't a gold, but to her, it meant just as much. It was part of the Olympic experience.
JJ knew that after tonight, her best chance for individual gold was on the balance beam. And when that opportunity came, she was going to take it.
After a bunch of photos, in which Viktoria struggled to muster up a smile, the three medalists were led to the mixed zone for press interviews.
The media were swamping Gabby and Viktoria, wanting to hear their thoughts on how they performed. JJ couldn't help but feel a little bit sad for Viktoria, as happy as she was for Gabby; she knew Viktoria had wanted an all-around gold more than anything, and the poor girl looked so sad with her silver medal that she had even taken it off shortly after the ceremony.
"Hi Jennifer, do you mind if I ask you a couple of questions?" came an Australian accent out of the thicket of reporters. JJ turned, smiling at the young man who had approached her with his iPhone and a notebook.
"Sure," she said sweetly. "And, I usually go by JJ"
The man grinned. "I'll remember that. I'm Mitchell Hagan, I work for The Sydney Morning Herald, back in Australia. I was wondering if you were expecting to get a medal today, and how do you feel having won bronze?"
"It feels amazing to have won bronze, I mean, it's the Olympic Games, to finish top three is incredible. Especially because, no, I wasn't expecting a medal today. I mean, I knew that I had a reasonable chance at silver or bronze, but I never come into a competition expecting a medal at the end. When we walk in to start a competition, we're all the same. We all start from zero and we have to go out there and prove to the judges that we deserve the prize, so it's nice to have been rewarded for that hard work"
"People say you're not a strong all-arounder, why do you think that is?"
"My vault starts seven tenths lower than the vault Gabby and Viktoria were doing, which is something I hope to improve on in the future. But also my bars as well. I mean, I have a 6.6 start value if I do my full difficulty, and usually score above 15, but my score range fluctuates pretty wildly between 15 and… 15.5 is probably the highest I've had with this routine, so people say I'm not as consistent on bars as I could be. Which is true, the reason I do have a big range is there's a few iffy connections in my routines, but my coach and I are working on those"
"Are you planning on continuing gymnastics after the Games?"
JJ smiled. "I think so. I'm only eighteen, so there's probably few more years left in me. I absolutely love gymnastics, and I've loved these past few days competing at the Olympics, so regardless of how my remaining finals go, I think I'll come back sometime next year after a bit of a break. I think I've earned one"
Mitchell laughed, ending the recording on his phone. "Thanks JJ. Good job tonight, you performed really well"
"Thank you," JJ replied with a smile as Mitchell joined the throng of reporters moving to speak to Gabby.
"You spoke well," Nick said warmly as he approached JJ.
"He asked me good questions," JJ replied with a grin. "So that's always helpful"
Nick chuckled, passing JJ her bag as they began to walk away from the media zone to the athlete's exit.
Clutching the medal around her neck, JJ was beaming from ear to ear. She had cemented her place as the third best all-arounder in the world.
Now, she had a few days before event finals to recuperate and allow her double Olympic medallist status to sink in.
And of course, have a little time to celebrate.
Real Results
Gabby Douglas finished in first with a 62.232, while Viktoria Komova took second with a 61.973. Aliya Mustafina and Aly Raisman both scored a 59.566, but after dropping their lowest score to break the tie, Aliya came out on top and took home the bronze medal in a very hotly debated controversy.