UCLA signee Mattie Larson scores silver with U.S. women’s gymnastics team at world championships
By Mansi Sheth
Oct. 21, 2010 1:36 a.m.
Correction: The original headline for this article contained an error. Mattie Larson won the silver medal with the U.S. women’s gymnastics team.
After placing third in the team preliminaries Sunday, Bruin signee Mattie Larson and the U.S. women’s gymnastics team stood one step higher on the podium in the finals, winning the silver medal at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Larson, who signed a letter of intent to UCLA in late 2009 but deferred enrollment in hopes of competing in the 2012 London Olympics, appeared in one event, scoring a sub-par 12.533 on floor exercise. A fall in the last tumbling pass of her routine resulted in a disappointing score for Larson, who competed first for the U.S. in the third rotation.
The future Bruin qualified for the national team along with junior Vanessa Zamarripa at the 2010 Visa Championships in August, placing second in the all-around and winning her first U.S. national title in floor exercise. Larson also competed against Zamarripa earlier this summer at the CoverGirl Classic, winning the all-around in her first major elite competition since 2008.
Of the 13 members on the national team, Larson was one of six gymnasts selected to compete against seven other nations in Rotterdam.
The last time the World Championships held the team competition was in 2007 when the U.S. team, which included freshman Samantha Peszek, took first place. This year’s team missed out on the goal by 0.201 points, losing in the final rotation to Russia, who ended the night with a final score of 175.397. Finishing on vault, the U.S. team was unable to match the consistency of the Russians on floor exercise during the final rotation.
“This was a very dramatic competition,” said Martha Karolyi, the women’s national team coordinator, in an interview with usagym.org. “I think the girls did a good job. They were not quite as solid on the beam as they were the other day, but they stayed on. We hit bars and the vault was excellent so I feel good except we had a mistake on floor and we could not make up for that.”
Compiled by Mansi Sheth, Bruin Sports contributor.
