She wanted a gold medal so badly.
Martha Karolyi, that is.
The rest of the U.S. women’s gymnastics team appeared satisfied with the silver medals they won Tuesday night at Olympic Indoor Hall.
Karolyi, USA Gymnastics’ women’s team coordinator, wore a happy face, but her words cut through her smile.
“It’s nice to have a medal, but we were hoping for a gold,” she said.
The U.S. had been favored to take Olympic gold since the Americans won their first world championship a year ago.
But Romania’s gymnasts wrapped themselves in their flag and wept at the conclusion of the team finals after successfully defending the gold medal they won in Sydney four years ago. They scored 114.283 to 113.584 for the U.S.
Russia won bronze at 113.235.
“I’m thrilled because we made it to the highest part of the podium,” Romania’s Catalina Ponor said. “We are over the moon.”
The U.S. couldn’t recreate the magic of the 1996 Olympic gold-medal squad. The Americans made too many mistakes and lost Courtney Kupets on balance beam because of an injury to her right hamstring.
The injury has been bothering her since mid-July, she said. Kupets, the U.S. national champion on beam, had scored 9.55 in the team preliminaries.
Mohini Bhardwaj filled in admirably with no warm-up and stuck her dismount beautifully. But her routine lacked the difficulty level of Kupets’ and she scored just 9.4.
Kupets said she dropped out of beam to save herself for floor exercise and partly to save herself for the “individual events to come.”
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“[Coaches] wanted me to tell them when it hurt so I wouldn’t make it any worse, but I also knew I could do floor,” Kupets said. “The beam is where it hurts the worst. We decided it would be better if I didn’t [compete in beam], for me and the team.”
She said she intends to compete in the all-around finals Thursday. She also is the only American woman to qualify for two individual event finals: uneven bars and beam.
Kupets faltered in floor exercise, though, with the U.S. still in contention for gold in the final rotation. She stumbled with her footwork and scored just 9.187.
The Americans’ gold-medal run ended there. They were easily outdone by the Romanians who followed them.
Ponor sealed her country’s victory with a dazzling floor-exercise routine that earned a 9.75. Earlier, she scored 9.762 on balance beam.
The Romanians had a bounce in their step from the start. The U.S. had a lot of missteps.
Carly Patterson, who had the top all-around score in preliminaries, struggled on vault and nearly stopped her routine on uneven bars midway through because of a mistake. She sat next to her coach looking dazed afterward.
“I tried to cover it up as well as I could,” Patterson said.
“We paid very, very deeply,” Bela Karolyi, Martha’s husband and former U.S. coach, said of the mistake.
“I’m not complaining,” he quickly added.
Four years ago in Sydney, Karolyi criticized coaches and gymnasts after the U.S. women finished fourth. He steered clear of such remarks Tuesday.
His wife expressed the most disappointment. For the most part, the gymnasts seemed pleased with their silver medals.
Annia Hatch, 26, blew out a knee while preparing for last year’s world championships and went through extensive rehabilitation to make the team.
“After everything that happened last year, I’m like, `Please, just a medal,'” Hatch said.
Given their ages, Bhardwaj, 25, and Hatch surprised with their athletic ability and skill level. They had high-flying and high-scoring vaults in the finals.
“For any of the three medals, it’s hard to be up there,” Bhardwaj said. “For me this medal means 21 years of gymnastics.”
Coach Kelli Hill had no complaints.
“Does it sting to have silver?” she said. “No, it does not. We know we got beat by a stronger team and there’s no dissatisfaction in that.”