US Women Gymnastics

Starting off strong ATHENS, Greece – Mohini Bhardwaj's role for the U.S. women's gymnastics team in Sunday's qualification round was clear. She started Team USA out on three of the four routines. And the 25-year-old Bhardwaj was solid as a rock, never wavering or showing any signs of apprehension. In the team competition, one gymnast feeds off another, and a "flow" begins. After one clean routine is executed, the confidence level moves from one teammate to the next. It becomes much easier to focus on technique rather than dealing with nerves. And in a sport where mental toughness is of utmost importance, this positive energy is essential. Bhardwaj's uneven bars routine in the first rotation reminded me of Jaycie Phelps' routine in Atlanta. She performed her exercise like any other workout or competition, and showed the other gymnasts that they can compete as well in Athens as they have in their previous performances.

 The Americans continued their poised and assertive attitude on the balance beam. The only visible error, a falter by Courtney McCool, did not adversely affect Team USA. Carly Patterson followed with one of the best beam routines I have ever seen. The Americans got through the first two events like true champions, but it seemed like they lost a little bit of rhythm on the floor exercise. The last three girls stepped out of bounds on their tumbling runs, and the United States lost its lead to the Romanians. The last U.S. rotation was vault where the team's two specialists – Annia Hatch and Bhardwaj – were put in to make their mark. Both veterans performed well, but have room for improvement in the finals Tuesday.

The hype surrounding the U.S. team coming into this competition appears to be well-deserved. These girls have been training together for quite some time now, and it showed in their performances. The U.S. trailed Romania at the end of the day, but the scores reset to zero for Tuesday's team final. The U.S. will only get better.

 by Kerri Strug, Yahoo! Sports August 15, 2004
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