McKayla Maroney was chosen for the U. S. women's gymnastics team because she can vault. It was all she was asked to do, and in the team competition, she did her job. She is so good at it that she was expected to win the gold medal in that event when it was contested last night.
Well, she didn't. She got the silver instead. Her first vault was excellent, but on the second one she landed on her butt. A Romanian gymnast named Sandra Izbasa, who qualified for the vaulting finals in eighth (last) place, landed on her feet on both her vaults and won by a very slim margin.
I was extremely disappointed in Maroney, not because she lost but because she was decidedly ungracious about it. She tolerated an embrace from the winner with unconcealed disdain and barely acknowledged the congratulations of the bronze medalist. Although I didn't see the medal ceremony, the New York Times reported that as the Romanian anthem played, Maroney "narrowed her eyes into a killer gaze and pursed her lips tightly," and that she never looked at the gold medalist.
Maybe she was being stoic. And yes, I know she failed to achieve something she has dreamed of all her life (all 16 years of it), but if one cannot accept defeat with grace, perhaps one is not ready to be a champion.
Day 9 Quote of the Day (McKayla Maroney after her loss in the vault competition): "I just messed up."
That's better.
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