Douglas sizzles to claim women's gymnastics title

Gabrielle Douglas boldly triumphed in the women's individual gymnastics final on Thursday to give the United States their third consecutive Olympic female champion. The 16-year-old from Virginia finished ahead of Russia's Viktoria Komova at the North Greenwich Arena, while Komova's team-mate Aliya Mustafina took the bronze medal. Mustafina and America's Alexandra Raisman finished level on 59.566 points in third position, but Mustafina won the bronze on tie-breaking criteria. Komova had been seeking revenge after the USA beat Russia to the gold medal in the team event, but Douglas produced a near-faultless performance to succeed compatriots Carly Patterson and Nastia Liukin as the women's Olympic champion. It gave her a second gold medal at the London Games, after her role in the Americans' team success, while she will also compete in the uneven bars final on August 6 and the balance beam final on August 7. Douglas took the lead after the vault and held on to top spot despite a strong uneven bars routine from world champion Komova, before closing out victory with a remarkably composed display on the floor.Komova missed out on all-around gold to an American gymnast for the second major tournament in succession, having being pipped by Jordyn Wieber, who did not qualify for the Olympic final, at last year's World Championships. The four favourites -- Douglas and Raisman of the USA, and Komova and Mustafina of Russia -- were placed in the same group and began on the vault. As in qualifying and in the team final, the American girls shone, producing near-faultless Amanar vaults -- a Yurchenko with two and a half twists -- that gave Douglas a score of 15.966 and Raisman 15.900. Komova stumbled badly on landing to receive a mark of 15.466, while Mustafina's score of 15.233 meant that the two American girls headed to the uneven bars with an early advantage.Komova is the reigning world uneven bars champion and her display on that apparatus yielded a score of 15.966 that momentarily took her up to second, but Douglas scored 15.733 to remain top at the halfway stage. Mustafina's gold medal ambitions died when she came off the balance beam in the third rotation, but Douglas scored 15.500 to stay ahead of Komova, to the audible delight of the many American fans in the crowd. Douglas did not put a foot wrong in her bold and brassy floor routine, but even though she was outscored by Komova moments later, it was not enough for the Russian to snatch the gold.