Komova's floor routine was impressive, as well. Finished, she stood at the center of the arena staring intently at the scoreboard, fingertips pressed to her lips, teammate Aliya Mustafina rubbing her shoulder. When the final standings flashed, Komova dropped her head and headed to the sidelines, tears falling.

Mustafina and Aly Raisman finished with identical scores of 59.566, but the Russian got the bronze on a tiebreak. The lowest scores for both gymnasts were dropped, and the remaining three were totaled. That gave Mustafina a total of 45.933 and Raisman 45.366.

''I'm still upset because I could have been gold and I didn't get it,'' said Komova, her silver medal buried in the pocket of her warm-up jacket.

Douglas, meanwhile, was grinning ear to ear. Up in the stands, her mother, Natalie Hawkins, embraced her children and then shared a long hug with Missy Parton, whose family took Douglas in after she moved to West Des Moines, Iowa, and now counts her as one of their own.

''She inspires me,'' Hawkins said, referring to her champion. ''To keep it together in that moment when it meant so much says a lot about her.''

When Douglas first told her mother she wanted to move to train with Chow, who coached Shawn Johnson, Hawkins was deadset against it. A single mother, she couldn't uproot her family, and there was no way she was going to allow her youngest child go off by herself.

But Douglas' two older sisters lobbied on her behalf, giving their mother a list of reasons why Gabby should be allowed to move. The only reason to stay: They would miss her.

The move was hard on Douglas, too. Though the Partons treat her like their fifth daughter and are now so close to Hawkins they may as well be related, Douglas missed her family and her dogs. As recently as January, she second-guessed her decision. But she also knew Chow and his wife, Li Zhuang, could get her where she wanted to go.