Jordyn Wieber cries after her last routine during the women's qualifications during the London Olympics at North Greenwich Arena on Sunday. (ROBERT DEUTSCH/USA TODAY)
LONDON (USA TODAY) - In a development that was equally stunning in the gymnastics world and devastating for Jordyn Wieber, the U.S. gymnast from DeWitt and reigning world champion did not qualify today for the Olympic all-around final.
Teammate Ali Raisman passed Wieber with a big score on the floor exercise, the final rotation of the day for the Americans in team qualifying. Wieber stepped out of bounds on her floor exercise and had a few other wobbly moments, but still finished with a strong score of 60.032 - the third-best of the day at North Greenwich Arena.
It's just that the top three scores all belong to Americans, and only two from each team can advance to the all-around final. Raisman got a 15.325 on the floor exercise to finish with the top score (60.391), with Gabby Douglas taking the second spot at 60.265.
Wieber passed by reporters without doing interviews after the competition, sobbing. She was ushered out of the arena by U.S. coach John Geddert.
"No words are worth a thousand," Geddert, also Wieber's personal coach, said as he walked out.
Now Team USA will focus on helping Wieber recover emotionally, and quickly. The Americans dominated in qualifying and are favored to win the team gold medal in Tuesday's team finals.
"Well, I'm definitely worried," Team USA coordinator Martha Karolyi said of Wieber. "You try to find words ... but it's very hard."
"We're always there for her, we love her no matter what," Raisman said of her close friend. "I hope she's happy because she really did great in the competition."
A short time after the event, USA Gymnastics released a comment from Wieber:
"It is a bit of a disappointment. It has always been a dream of mine to compete in the all-around final of the Olympics, but I'm proud of Aly and Gabby that they reached the all-around and that I was able to help the team get to the finals. I think from the beginning we were looking very strong. It was always going to be close between the three of us doing all-around, and in the end it is what it is."
As for watching Raisman do the floor exercise, USA Gymnastics attributed this comment to Wieber: "It was hard because of course I wanted that spot, but I also wanted Aly to do her best for the team."
The U.S. finished 11 points ahead of second-place Great Britain, even though Wieber, Douglas and Kyla Ross went out of bounds on the floor exercise. Another qualifying session comes later today, which includes China and Russia.
The scoring, though, starts from scratch Tuesday.
The Americans are the defending world champions. But at Athens in 2004 and Beijing in 2008, the U.S. entered the Olympics as world champions only to fail to win a gold medal. The last U.S. gold came in Atlanta in 1996, with a group forever remembered as The Magnificent Seven.
This year's U.S. team has been nicknamed the Fab Five. (The number of competitors, like so many other things, has been downsized.)
Wieber, the 16-year-old U.S. champion, had lost only two all-around competitions since 2008 and both were to teammates. However, she lost to Douglas at the Olympic trials this year.
Today, she had a form break on a handstand on the uneven bars and a few wobbles on the balance beam. After Ross and Douglas flew out of bounds on floor exercise, Wieber got way too much power on one of her tumbling passes and had to take a step back to steady herself. Only problem: It was out of bounds, and the deduction all but ended any chance she had of staying in the top two.
JOE REXRODE/USA TODAY
The Associated Press contributed to this report.