LONDON — Happy tears, sad tears, so many tears for the U.S. women’s gymnastics team Sunday.
The women qualified first for Tuesday’s team final, but that was the secondary news.
Jordyn Wieber, the 17-year-old from DeWitt, Mich., who was the defending world all-around champion and a co-favorite for Olympic gold in that event with her teammate Gabrielle Douglas, made uncharacteristic mistakes on vault, uneven bars and floor exercise and was unable to qualify for the all-around final.
Only two gymnasts per country are eligible for the all-around final and each event final. Wieber stood fourth overall in the all-around standings Sunday, but she was only third on her own team and therefore ineligible for the all-around final.
Captain Alexandra Raisman, 18, was the unexpected top scorer for the U.S. women with her final total of 60.391. She and 16-year-old Douglas, with 60.265, will represent the U.S. in Thursday’s all-around competition.
Wieber finished with 60.032 points.
Russia’s Victoria Komova led the all-around qualifying with 60.632 points.
U.S. team coordinator Martha Karolyi seemed stunned by the results rather than cheered.
“You try to find words because it’s almost like someone passes away,” Karolyi said. “What do you say? But the fact is the fact. Jordyn did her best and she was edged by her teammates.”
5TH CONSECUTIVE MEDAL FOR RHODE
Kimberly Rhode is the first American with individual medals in five straight Olympics, after a golden, record-setting, nearly perfect performance.
Rhode won the women’s skeet shooting gold Sunday, tying a world record and setting the Olympic mark with 99 points — meaning she missed once in 100 shots. She was eight targets better than silver medalist Wei Ning of China and nine better than Slovakia’s Danka Bartekova, who topped Russia’s Marina Belikova in a shootout for the bronze in women’s skeet shooting.
Rhode won a gold in double trap at Atlanta in 1996, a bronze in that event four years later at Sydney, the gold at Athens in 2004 and the silver in skeet at Beijing in 2008.
U.S. BOXING PERFECT SO FAR
Britain, Ireland and the revitalized American team are all off to perfect starts in the Olympic boxing tournament.
Jose Ramirez and Errol Spence won their opening bouts to improve the Americans to 4-0, while Freddie Evans and Josh Taylor rode the home crowd’s raucous cheers to a 3-0 start for Britain. Welterweight Adam Nolan then added a win in the late session, pushing Ireland’s record to 3-0.
DURANT, LEBRON LEAD U.S. OVER FRANCE
Kevin Durant scored 22 points, LeBron James added eight assists and the U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team opened tournament play with a rough-and-ragged 98-71 win over France.
Seeking a second straight gold medal, the Americans expected a tough test from a French team featuring San Antonio guard Tony Parker and five other NBA players.
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