One U.S. gymnast hopped forward, another stepped backward.
Over and over again.
The reigning women’s world-champion team from the U.S. looked like a work in progress in Sunday’s preliminaries at Olympic Indoor Hall–with one exception.
Carly Patterson of Allen, Texas, displayed sound execution in nearly every event to earn the top all-around score of 38.337, solidifying her status as a gold-medal contender. Teammate Courtney Kupets also advanced in all-around with a score of 37.937, fourth best among 98 competitors.
Most of the gymnasts’ routines went smoothly until they performed their dismounts, often stepping out of their landings. But neither the gymnasts, coach Kelli Hill nor national team coordinator Martha Karolyi expressed concern over the mishaps.
“We can fix it all,” two-time U.S. all-around champion Kupets said.
They have until Tuesday’s team finals to restore the kind of near-perfect routines the U.S. had in Anaheim last year to win its first world championship. The U.S. is second heading into the finals, with 151.848 points to Romania’s 152.436.
“We did what we needed to do, not what we’re capable of,” USA Gymnastics President Bob Colarossi said.
But the team had unexpected meltdowns, including some on vault from veterans Annia Hatch and Mohini Bhardwaj.
Hatch, 26, named to the team strictly for vault, faltered when she stepped forward in landing her first for a 9.387. She improved with a 9.45 on her second try. Hatch and Bhardwaj each vaulted twice, a requirement to reach the event’s finals.
“Because I wanted to stick it, I tried to hold back a little bit,” Hatch said. “I was a little bit short.”
Still, Hatch had the sixth-best average score to advance to the event finals.
Bhardwaj’s knees buckled on her first landing, and she took two steps forward to keep from falling. She scored 9.337 on her first vault and 9.187 on her second. Otherwise, she was one of the team’s stronger performers.
“I usually have a pretty stellar competition with one event that kind of frustrates me,” said Bhardwaj, 25. “I guess [vault] was the one this time.”
She surprised with a 9.525 on floor exercise to qualify for the final.
“We were counting on higher scores,” Karolyi said of the vaults. “I’m pretty positive that both girls will be able to deliver the scores we were expecting in the team final competition.”
Courtney McCool, 16, the team’s youngest member, and Terin Humphrey also had trouble. Both took huge steps out of bounds in their floor exercise routines. McCool, known for her artistry and composure, wobbled on balance beam and never recovered.
“What’s done is done,” she said. “I can’t do anything about it.”
Once a favorite to win a medal in all-around, it is now unlikely she will even compete in the team finals, where only three gymnasts perform in each event and every score counts. In preliminaries, five gymnasts from each team competed on every event, with the lowest score dropped.
Kupets made noticeable mistakes in every event, but her high level of difficulty compensated for them. She had the team’s highest score on uneven bars at 9.637 to qualify for the finals along with Humphrey. She also is a finalist on balance beam.
Patterson is the only U.S. member who executed her routines almost without a glitch. She has one of the toughest routines on balance beam, and her nearly flawless routine produced a score of 9.725, second best among finalists.
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Some questioned whether Patterson could pull out a world-class routine on beam after she fell twice at the trials.
“I think it’s important for me to make it for my confidence, and so people can stop talking about trials,” she said, laughing.
She appeared to be the only U.S. gymnast at ease.
“I think I was more nervous for trials,” Patterson said. “You want to be so good there because you want to impress Martha and you want to make it here.”
Mary Lou Retton, who became the country’s first Olympic gold medalist in all-around in 1984, predicted at the trials that Patterson would be the top women’s gymnast.
“When she hits, she’s unbeatable,” Retton said.
Such was the case Sunday.