The New Queen

The week of podium training was nerve wracking for the Russians. They didn’t care what other people thought of them, but they sure did care what other people were doing. The Romanian’s looked better than ever. They upgraded bars to a point where they rivaled the Americans. The Amerians had upgraded bars as well. China looked fabulous on floor and vault which was typically their weakest events. They were scared. The whole idea of a dream team went down the drain.
Qualifications was the first step in the right direction. They watched the men do Russia some justice by placing third. Now they needed to do the same.
They were put in the last group. They performed late in the day and to be honest they were all tired, but they digressed.
They started on floor which was a great event for Anna to start on. She got her confidence from beam and floor and if she started on any of those events she could have a great competition. Since she always placed in the top five with the team or individually they always started on vault which was not a favorite event for Anna.
In that first rotation they posted all scores above 14 and came up second behind Romania for highest floor scores. Since they were last Anna knew what finals she would get into. She placed first on floor with Ksenia also in the final.
They moved to vault which wasn’t a particularly great event for Russia. They had two amanars and two DTY’s. Viktoria posted the highest posting amanar which was a lot different from Rio. Anna and Aliya were both eligible for the vault finals. They both made it, placing 2nd and 3rd respectively. They were behind Mckayla Maroney.
They went on to bars which was the event that helped get them into the lead ahead of China. Viktoria and Aliya made it into the final. Because of the two-per-country rule, Anna did not advance.
Last was beam. To be honest they were not at all excited about ending on beam. They were all very tired but they pushed on. They had one fall by Aliya but Maria helped them by performing consistently. They kept their place in first at the end of the round. Viktoria and Anna made it into the final.
In the end, minus Maria, they all made finals. Anna made four including the all around, Aliya made three, Viktoria made two and Ksenia made one. Their first big challenge was the team final also known as the day Anna turns 19.
…
“Ugh” Anna groaned.
“Ugh to you” Aliya said back. “You’ve been complaining all day what’s your deal? We finished first!”
“Im tired” Anna said. “And in two days it’s my birthday” Aliya was going to speak but Anna interrupted. “AND Tom wants to meet with me after the competition is over and I cannot wait that long!”
“Hey at least you have someone to meet” Viktoria said. “I don’t want to talk to the Americans again”
“Neither do I, but I digress” Anna said. “Is this as good as it gets?” Aliya shook her head.
“If we win gold during the team final I will personally make sure we party for days”
“First alcoholic beverages on me!” Ksenia said.
“What if we don’t win?” Maria asked.
“We better” Anna said. “At least win some kind of medal…that would be a lame 19th birthday present”
“Really though, who’s going to beat us? China’s behind us by a point, Romania’s down in fourth and America really fell apart during qual and is in third. I think we just need to do what we did today again in two days” Ksenia said. “We have a better chance than we did in London”
…
Tom searched around the Olympic village for Anna on several occasions. He knew her schedule and wanted to see her SO FUCKING BAD. He liked her to the point where he was aching. He just wanted to know if she liked him too.