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 But they were gritty, determined and tenacious. And if it's true that world championships in the year before the Olympics are all about building reputations, then the Americans have built a pretty nice one.
They won a dramatic gold medal Wednesday, overcoming two spills on the balance beam that would have knocked most teams out of the running, both emotionally and on the scoreboard.
Now, they are the team to beat in Beijing.
"Going into the Olympic Games as the reigning world champions, I mean how much better can you feel?" Nastia Liukin said after the victory.
Of course, a gold medal the year before the Olympics doesn't guarantee one at the actual games. Four years ago, the U.S. women overcame injuries to win their first world championship. They followed in Athens with a disappointing silver.
But it's hard to argue with the value of this win. The team could have disintegrated after two straight mistakes on the beam. Liukin's was particularly startling, and only in part because she was the 2005 world champion on the event. An awkward landing forced her to shorten a difficult dismount into nothing more than a simple back tuck
-- a move itty-bitty kids can do.
National champion Shawn Johnson followed with an untimely fall.
They went into the final rotation on floor slightly behind the Chinese, but came back with three winning routines
-- by Johnson, Shayla Worley and Alicia Sacramone. With the help of a rare mistake by China, the Americans won the title.
"It was like fighting" a tough fight, team coordinator Martha Karolyi said. "It's having some setbacks through the process but making sure that mentally, they don't break. That they keep the confidence. They know they have the work behind them and they trust that they're able to do it."
Johnson's floor routine will be remembered for its pure athleticism and poise under pressure. Things could have unraveled for her after her fall off the beam in this, the most important meet of her life. Instead, she rallied and delivered the high jumps, the radiant smile and the straight-lined precision that could make her an Olympic champion next year.
"I was shocked," she said of her feeling after the fall on beam. "It just kind of woke me up a little and made me work harder on the floor."
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Johnson did well enough to put Sacramone in position to win it for the Americans.
The team captain was understandably nervous when she walked up the stairs and received a big hug from Johnson.
"I tried to calm down right before, and Mihai's yelling at me, saying 'Change your face, change your face,'" Sacramone said of coach Mihai Brestyan, who wanted to see his pupil smile. "I'm like 'OK, I've done this routine so many times.'"
She did it once more with feeling, and it was a winner.
She powered through her flip combinations and landed without looking down, knowing she'd stayed inside the lines. And in the corners, there she was, seductively running her hand down her leg and flinging her arms open to the crowd as if to say "I'll be appearing here nightly at 9."
Everyone knew that routine was a winner.
Sacramone was bawling as she walked off the floor. Karolyi and the American coaches were celebrating before her score even came up. The rest of the women were in a circle on the floor, hugging and crying.
"After we all started crying, we were saying that it's such a great feeling to know that finally we're on top of the world again," Liukin said. "It's just a great feeling to know we're on top."
And if they can do it again next year, it will be even better.
While the Chinese are sure to be better -- they brought three 15-year-olds and a 16-year-old to Germany
-- so will the Americans. Left behind this year were former world champion Chellsie Memmel and Jana Bieger, the silver medalist in the all-around last year. Both were recovering from injuries.
Add them to the gold-medal mix, and the Americans are sure to be formidable.
"It shows the world we're here and we're ready and we're up for any challenge," Johnson said. "But it'll make us go home and work harder, because we know other countries are looking at us."
[Associated Press;
by Eddie Pells]
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
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