With London close at hand, we take a look back at ten of the most memorable gymnastics moments from the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. What's your favorite moment from '08?
10. Nastia Liukin starts a leotard trend winning the Olympic all around title...in pink!
Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images
9. Zou Kai's controversial high bar win in Beijing sets up his dominance on the event over the next quadrennium.
Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images
8. Anna Pavlova performs one of the most elegant floor exercises of the Games.
7. Filip Ude (Croatia) and Anton Fokin (Uzbekistan) win the first Olympic gymnastics medals for their countries. Ude won the silver on pommel horse while Fokin took bronze on parallel bars.
Photo by Harry How/Getty Images
6. China's Yang Wei gives a dominant performance in the men's all around, winning by nearly three points.
Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Bongarts
5. The colorful arena provides a brilliant backdrop for the gymnastics competition. Beautiful!
Photo by Bob Rosato/Sports Illustrated
4. Nastia Liukin's finesse, sticking a picture-perfect vault in the all around final and showing off her own signature skill on balance beam.
Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images
3. Louis Smith ends a 100-year medal drought for Great Britain in gymnastics, winning a bronze medal on his specialty, the pommel horse.
Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images
2. An unbelievably close battle for silver and bronze in the men's all around final, with second-place Kohei Uchimura scoring less than .5 higher than tenth-place Rafael Martinez.
Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Bongarts
1. Shawn Johnson, Nastia Liukin and Yang Yilin fight for gold in the women's all around final. No falls. No major errors. All three at the top of their game.
Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images
For Gymnastike's coverage of the 2012 London Olympics, click HERE.
10. Nastia Liukin starts a leotard trend winning the Olympic all around title...in pink!
Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images
9. Zou Kai's controversial high bar win in Beijing sets up his dominance on the event over the next quadrennium.
Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images
8. Anna Pavlova performs one of the most elegant floor exercises of the Games.
7. Filip Ude (Croatia) and Anton Fokin (Uzbekistan) win the first Olympic gymnastics medals for their countries. Ude won the silver on pommel horse while Fokin took bronze on parallel bars.
Photo by Harry How/Getty Images
6. China's Yang Wei gives a dominant performance in the men's all around, winning by nearly three points.
Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Bongarts
5. The colorful arena provides a brilliant backdrop for the gymnastics competition. Beautiful!
Photo by Bob Rosato/Sports Illustrated
4. Nastia Liukin's finesse, sticking a picture-perfect vault in the all around final and showing off her own signature skill on balance beam.
Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images
3. Louis Smith ends a 100-year medal drought for Great Britain in gymnastics, winning a bronze medal on his specialty, the pommel horse.
Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images
2. An unbelievably close battle for silver and bronze in the men's all around final, with second-place Kohei Uchimura scoring less than .5 higher than tenth-place Rafael Martinez.
Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Bongarts
1. Shawn Johnson, Nastia Liukin and Yang Yilin fight for gold in the women's all around final. No falls. No major errors. All three at the top of their game.
Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images
For Gymnastike's coverage of the 2012 London Olympics, click HERE.
Categories: olympics 2012
Now, I'm a massive fan of Nastia, but Shawn Johnson's gold on beam... that deserved mention here more than Nastia's vault (which was such low difficulty as to barely be competitive in this quad, start value of 15.5 and never scoring higher than a 15.1 on the world stage). Granted, it was a damn good execution of that vault, but still. (Also, the fact that the reigning world champions on all around and beam switched places at the Olympics was pretty cool too, with the reigning world champs placing second to each other on both events as well.)