Even though I love Alicia, she honestly wasn't who I was considering the strongest on this team. /
McKayla Maroney is our current vault national champ above Sacramone, proving she may have a great shot in Vault finals at Worlds where Alicia won last year. We have two solid Amanars between Maroney and Jordyn Wieber. A possible third from Aly Raisman, which will most likely be a very solid clean double yurchenko instead. We are strong on vault.
On bars, Gabrielle Douglas is clearly our strongest gymnast. We are weaker here but again, Wieber has a strong and consistent bars set. When you're weak in an area, consistency is KEY. Sabrina Vega also has a nice bars set with nice lines, and if McKayla Maroney is your fourth option for a bars routine, things could definitely be much worse. She has worked hard to be an all arounder, and when she hits, her bars are not bad at all.
Back to beam, we are strong again. Wieber is obviously above and beyond with difficulty. Raisman is solid here too. Personally, I think Sabrina Vega's beam is GORGEOUS! I really hope they use her for finals on beam, because she is very fun to watch. If not though, I would say Douglas also has a nice beam set with lots of difficulty.
On floor, Wieber and Raisman are definitely the top two performers. After them, well it all depends who proves to be the most consistent under pressure. I would love to see McKayla do well and compete her 3.5 on floor in finals. Her form on it, is much prettier to me than when Aliya Mustafina performs it. Again, Vega and Douglas are not terrible here either.
Don't count the USA out yet!! The other teams have seemed to be cracking under pressure in training, ANYTHING could happen. Don't lose all of your faith in them because Alicia is out. It is obvious that Aly has learned a lot from her, and this is a perfect opportunity for her to break out and become a leader. Keep it going girls!