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Summary Americans have won only one Olympic gold medal in 1996.
Aly Raisman can almost feel the eyes on her as she and her U.S. gymnastics teammates finish their training session. Sure enough, shell look up and see a couple of heads in the doorway.Russians, usually. Sometimes the Romanians.We always try and do a little better, Raisman said with the hint of a smirk, maybe intimidate them a bit.If there were any doubts the American women are the ones to beat at the London Olympics, theyve been erased by the amateur espionage the last few days.When the Americans opened Thursdays podium training session with a barrage of Amanars, the high-scoring vaults that might very well decide the gold medal, a Chinese coach made sure he had a front-row seat. Russian coach Alexander Alexandrov just happened to make his way to the bathroom when the Americans were doing vault one day, and couldnt resist stopping for a minute or two.They watch us, we dont watch them, U.S. coach John Geddert said.The womens competition begins Sunday with qualifying. The team final is Tuesday night.The Americans are the reigning world champions, beating Russia by four points last fall in a rout.Jordyn Wieber is the world all-around champion, and her only two losses since 2008 have been to American teammates. McKayla Maroney won the vault title at the worlds, while Raisman took home a bronze on floor exercise and was fourth in the all-around. Gabby Douglas upstaged Wieber at the Olympic trials.To me, it doesnt make a difference what theyre doing if we do what we do, said Geddert, also Wiebers personal coach. Were not going to change anything because theyre doing something else. Were going to do what we do.Despite winning three of the last five team titles at the world championships, the Americans have won only one Olympic gold medal, and that was back in 1996. But this is the deepest team the U.S. has had since Atlanta, and those show-stopping vaults could give the Americans a decisive advantage.The Amanar is worth 0.7 points more than most other gymnasts vault. Execution scores still have to be factored in, of course. But assuming eachAmerican does an Amanar in team finals, where three gymnasts compete on each event and all three scores count, the U.S. could build a sizable lead over Russia, Romania and China with just one event.Weve been working so hard on them, and it shows we really want this, Raisman said. Its a huge advantage.
