What a year for Wieber

It is easy to overlook the magnitude of an athlete's accomplishments when she does what she was supposed to do. That is the case for 16-year-old Jordyn Wieber, who was supposed to be gymnastics' new ‘it girl' in 2011 and certainly lived up to those expectations.

While the gold medals aligned for Wieber, there were a few close calls. As in any sport - just because you are the most talented, most prepared, and favored to win - doesn't mean you will. A slip off uneven bars, a step out of bounds on floor - there are no guarantees.

Wieber kicked off her first year in the senior elite ranks at the American Cup in March where she went up against Russia's Aliya Mustafina, then the reigning world champion. From the moment Mustafina and her team arrived in Florida, they were not happy. The American Cup is part of the International Gymnastics Federation's (FIG) World Cup Series, which beginning in 2011 was supposed to feature the top eight gymnasts from the previous world championships. How was Wieber in the field when she did not event compete at 2010 Worlds in Rotterdam?

The answer was a host country substitute entry in the case of a withdrawal (Jake Dalton, the men's substitute, also ended up competing). Wieber was cleared to compete and had to ignore the obvious frustrations and outrage of the Russian camp, which were evident in practices. Meantime, the gymnastics world was in for a treat. How would this new senior stack up against the current world best?

Despite opening with a huge, nearly stuck Amanar vault, it appeared Wieber may come up short after an uncharacteristic fall off the uneven bars. She kept her head up and continued on to hit a stunning beam set before moving to floor. Here's where the pressure hit Wieber - a stubborn Mustafina, who had a significant lead heading into the final apparatus, would not water down her routines as her coaches advised. She went on to make a major mistake on her third tumbling pass. If Wieber could hit her floor set, she would upset the world champion. Talk about pressure in your first meet out as a senior.

Wieber stepped out of bounds on her first tumbling pass and took a big step on her second before hitting the final two. One could say fate was on her side - in the end the American phenom won by 0.068 points over the world champion from Russia. Talk about a senior debut that would be discussed for some time.

The VISA National Championships was business as usual for Wieber. Of course she probably had those normal competition jitters that come with any performance, but her biggest challengers struggled and another suffered an unfortunate injury. Wieber claimed her first senior title by more than six points over her teammates McKayla Maroney and Alexandra Raisman, while defending champion Rebecca Bross dislocated her knee on vault and required surgery.

Up next was the real test for the DeWitt, Michigan native - the world championships, where she would take on another Russian (defending champ Mustafina went down with a torn ACL at Europeans in April) in Viktoria Komova. The two were in similar situations - both making their senior worlds debut and both expected to win.

Similar to the American Cup, Wieber made uncharacteristic mistakes in the all-around final. After giving herself the edge with the highest scoring vault of the night, an Amanar, Wieber made a costly mistake on the uneven bars. And once again, she came back with a strong routine on balance beam to close the gap before the final event. Unlike at the American Cup, however, this time Wieber would go first. With the world all-around title on the line, Wieber was tight on floor. Her opening two tumbling passes had small hops and she stepped out of bounds on her third. Wieber stuck her final pass and left the judges with a good impression, guaranteeing her the silver medal, but forced to wait and watch Komova to find out if she could grab gold.

To the naked eye, Komova's performance appeared to be enough, but the judges added up a series of small deductions and it was enough to give Wieber the slight edge - this time edging out the Russian by an even smaller margin, 0.033 points, to claim gold. Both Wieber and Komova burst into tears - the American releasing a year full of pressure and expectation, while the Russian shed tears of shock and disappointment.

Yes, when we list Wieber's accolades in 2011 - American Cup champion, U.S. champion, world all-around champion - it can be said she did what was expected of her (let's also not forget to throw in anchoring the U.S. women's team that won world gold in Tokyo, too). But one of the reasons she is UniversalSports.com's Female Athlete of the Year is because not enough can be said about how difficult it is to actually live up to and deliver what has been expected of you for years. And it wasn't easy.

Less than one tenth of a point led Wieber to this impressive year and it came with perseverance and determination under pressure. Expect much the same from the talented 16-year-old next year in London, where you can bet there are two Russians who want revenge when the biggest prize of all, Olympic gold, is on the line.