By Dominique Dawes Sports Aug 8, 4:52 am EDT
BEIJING – If everything turns out the way it should, the women’s gymnastics team gold medal will come down to the Chinese and the Americans. Several factors could help or hinder China – the home crowd.
Then, many people talk about an Olympic “homefield advantage,” there is no guarantee that competing on your home turf is an advantage at all. I got to compete in my “backyard” at the 1996 Atlanta Games, and nothing could match that experience. The fervor of the fans was motivating, but it also was something that I or my teammates could not avoid.
Whether I was reading the paper, watching television or walking down the street, I would be bombarded with Olympic news, predictions and analysis. And while I was considered a veteran due to my previous Olympic experience in 1992 in Barcelona, those games did not prepare me for the pressure I felt while competing on U.S. soil.
Those high expectations placed a great amount of pressure on me and my teammates, and when you have such a burden, one either sinks or swims. In gymnastics, you either stick it or fall apart. There’s no other choice.
That is the immense pressure that China will have to handle. Only a mentally strong and unbreakable team of individuals can use that situation to their advantage, or simply block it out entirely. The Chinese women may have the talent and heart, but do they have the toughness to stay focused and not allow the surroundings to distract them?
Above all, they will have numerous advantages. They’ll have the comfort of limited travel (unlike the American team, which endured more than 20 hours of travel), the environment and, of course, the fans’ cheers in their own arena.
The feeling which you have a crowd behind you, with its immediate reaction to your performance, is uplifting and inspiring even when you know the pressure is on. When I landed a routine in 1996, the Georgia Dome would erupt, and during my floor routine, I could barely hear my music because of all the cheering and clapping.
Gymnastics fans are looking for a repeat of the battle at the 2007 world championships when the U.S. went head-to-head with the Chinese women down to the last event and overtook them by a 10th of a point to win gold. However for China, the fight for the team title may just be between themselves and how they handle the pressure of an Olympic homefield advantage.
Dominique Dawes is Yahoo! Sports' Olympic gymnastics analyst Send Dominique a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.
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