The gold streak is over for Olympic gymnast Gabby Douglas. The all-around champion fell off of the balance beam during the individual routine, ruining her chances at a final gold medal for the 2012 Olympics in London.
After making a mistake during the individual uneven bars event, Douglas had another mishap which caused her to place seventh out of eight competitors overall. Douglas helped Team USA bring home a gold and then went on the win gold in the women's gymnastics all-around competition, but she did not do as well in the individual events.
Douglas fell in the middle of her balance beam routine. Her right foot slipped off the beam. She caught herself before hitting the mat, but she was left clinging from the bar. She pulled herself back up and finished the routine, but it wasn't enough to redeem herself. She sat stone-faced as she received a low score of 13.633 for the major flub.
The gold went to 2009 world champion Deng Linlin of China with a score of 15.60 followed by Sui Lu who took silver with a 15.50 score.
However an even bigger surprise came in the decision of the bronze medal winner. Romania's Cataline Ponor originally took bronze, but after a protest from Team USA, Aly Raisman was given the bronze medal instead. Judges had given her a difficulty rating that was too low. Her final score was 15.066.
The change caused smiles for Raisman, but heartbreak for Ponor.
Douglas had another upset during the uneven bars event, one of her specialties. She wound up placing eighth, and last, with a score of 14.9 after making a mistake during a handstand.
Douglas was a little more confident heading into her balance beam routine.
"Beam has been excellent. If I can just do what I did in the all-around finals or team finals, then I'll be good. I'm going to get a lot of rest, just rest up, and do a lot of therapies and relax my body and hopefully prepare for that."
However the fall cost her and prevented her from ending the Olympics with another medal.
Douglas blamed the uneven bar mistake on being worn out after all of the Olympic excitement.
"I think toward the end of the Olympics you get mentally and physically tired and you're just, like, drained."
