Gabby Douglas, the 16-year-old gymnastics phenom, helped the US women’s team claim gold yesterday in London.

This is the team’s first gold since 1996. Douglas’ outstanding performance on the uneven bars helped assure the win.

When Gabby Douglas finished first at the Olympic trials last month, critics argued that she was too inexperienced in international competition and couldn’t possibly be ready for the big stage of London 2012.

 

Nobody’s saying that now, after Douglas and the U.S. team won the all-around team competition by what could be considered a landslide on Tuesday, becoming the first American squad to do so since 1996. The Americans tallied a score of 183.596, finishing over five points ahead of Russia.

 

Each member of the team has her strong suits. Each of them serves a particular individual purpose. The U.S. wouldn’t have gotten that gold on Tuesday without McKayla Maroney’s vault performance, or without Jordyn Wieber’s performance on the floor.

 

But without question, the U.S. wouldn’t have been in a position to win the all-around gold without Douglas’ uneven bars routine, which was made even gutsier by the fact that it was the Americans’ weakest event and Russia’s strongest.

Read more at The Bleacher Report.

Congrats to Gabby and the rest of the team.

Good luck in the all around competition!