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London • There were no words. Only tears.

And as Jordyn Wieber's coach helped usher her through a maze of reporters, all of them wanting to ask the 17-year-old world champion from DeWitt what had gone wrong and how she felt about it, there really was no need for her to answer.

She was sobbing.

"No words are worth a thousand, I guess," said John Geddert, Wieber's longtime coach.

Indeed, words couldn't begin to describe the personal disappointment for Wieber in the aftermath Sunday's Olympic team qualifying in women's gymnastics.

The Americans led the way, as expected, advancing to Tuesday's final with the highest qualifying score, easily outpointing the other top medal contenders: Russia, China and Romania.

But in a shocker, it was Gabby Douglas and Aly Raisman – not Wieber, the reigning world champ and presumptive Olympic favorite — grabbing the two U.S. berths in Thursday's women's all-around final, one of the showcase events at the Olympics.

In a statement released later by USA Gymnastics, Wieber acknowledged, "It is a bit of a disappointment." She also added, "It has always been a dream of mine to compete in the all-around final of the Olympics, but I'm proud of Aly and Gabby and happy that they reached the all-around and that I was able to help the team get to the finals."

But that was a piece of paper talking, not Wieber, the rock-steady performer whom Bela Karolyi, the legendary former coach, had pegged for London gold – "To be honest, somebody's gotta have a hell of a day to come close to her in the all-around," he told me a month ago at the U.S. trials – and even compared to former Olympic champion Nadia Comaneci.

"She reminds me very much of Nadia," said Karolyi, whose wife, Martha, is the women's national team coordinator. "The body and the mind. This is the first one that I would say it in 40 years."

Sunday afternoon, still reeling from the results, no one knew quite what to say, Karolyi included.

"My heart hurts," he said. "I'm hurting inside."

The 54-year-old Geddert was visibly hurting, too, his face a mixture of anguish and anger.

"The kid has trained forever," he said of Wieber, whom Geddert has coached for half her life. "I'm devastated for her. Things just didn't go her way today. I mean, it's not like she had a bad day.

Other people stepped up a little bit better … and I'll leave it at that."

Try as he might, though, he couldn't simply leave it at that.

Geddert felt the judges scored Wieber too harshly. And judging

by the look on Wieber's face a couple times during Sunday's competition, she probably agreed.

The U.S. women first hit the vault, one of Wieber's strongest events. And though she stepped out of bounds on her landing, her score didn't suffer much. Next up was the uneven bars – Wieber's

weakest event – and she had trouble holding a handstand, losing a half-point there to Douglas, her chief rival who'd narrowly edged her in the all-around at U.S. trials.

"I thought it was a decent bars set," Geddert said. "Obviously, the judges didn't see it from the same eyes, but that's their job, not mine."

A few wobbles and a balance check on the beam proved costly, however. Too costly, in Geddert's eyes.

"She got no credit for anything," he said. "They took everything away. I mean, that's never happened – ever."

And that's what set the stage for the unthinkable, as the Americans headed to the floor exercise for the final event of the session.

Douglas appeared safe in first, but Wieber led Raisman by just three-tenths of a point. And after both Kyla Ross and Douglas stumbled out of bounds on their routines, Wieber did, too, if only

by a slight margin. When she'd finished, her 14.666 score – well below her usual standard – meant Raisman, the world bronze medalist in the event – only needed a 14.966 to tie her. And

it meant Douglas (60.265) was safe, sitting ahead of Wieber (60.032) in the overall standings.

Bela Karolyi, by the way, blamed Wieber's final event result partly on a "lineup mistake" that had Raisman competing last on the floor, knowing that judges tend to save their highest scores for the end. He said his wife's preference was for Wieber to go last on the floor, but the rest of the U.S. coaches decided against it.

And really, whatever the case, that's only fair, considering Raisman's ability there.

Raisman seemed oblivious to all that, anyway. And she didn't stumble, she later said, partly due to the fact she didn't know where she stood, having avoided look ing at the scoreboard inside

North Greenwich Arena all day.

But after bounding through a mistake-free routine, when her floor score flashed (15.325) – moving her ahead of both Douglas and Wieber — and Raisman's coach, Mihai Brestyan, grabbed her in a big hug, she knew.

"I couldn't believe it," she said.

Neither could Wieber, whose face went blank. She bowed her head, grabbed her backpack and marched out with her teammates in stunned silence — "I'll be all right," she told a team official as

she exited — then broke down away from the TV cameras. Fifteen minutes later, when Geddert returned to speak briefly to the media, he was asked what Wieber had said.

"She hasn't said a word yet," he replied. "She doesn't talk. She'll go into her little shell for awhile before she comes out."

Ironically, it'll probably be Raisman trying the hardest to help her cope as Wieber tries to regroup for Tuesday's team final.

Raisman is Wieber's closest friend on the U.S. squad and has been her roommate for years now

at competitions and team training camps.

"It's really hard because we're best friends and I know how much she wanted it," said Raisman, 18, of Needham, Mass., who also is the U.S. team captain.

"That was one of the first things I said, was that I felt so bad. Be cause she worked so hard, too.

But I know she's still a good friend and she'll be happy for me.

"It's just tough that only top two gymnasts go."

Especially for the Americans,who by day's end, owned three of the top four all-around qualifying scores. Raisman was second, Douglas third and Wieber fourth.

Yet Wieber won't be one of the 24 gymnasts competing in the individual all-around final.

"In this system, it's a shame that the world champion doesn't get to compete in the all-around

finals at the Olympics, because of a stupid rule," Geddert said.

Up until 2004, three gymnasts per country could qualify into the finals, and two per event. But

these days, gymnasts face the same obstacle that the dominant U.S. swimmers do at their Olympic trials: Third place just isn't good enough, even though it should be.

The last of the 24 all-around qualifiers, Spain's Ana Maria Izu rieta, actually was 33rd in the standings Sunday. On her worst day, Wieber probably could beat her with her eyes closed.

"Is that the right thing? That's the bigger question, I think," USA Gymnastics president Steve Penny said. "But it is what it is. It's the nature of the beast. It's an unfortunate reality."

And unfortunately for Wieber, that's the reality she had to face Sunday. Her Olympic dream shattered, she must pick up the pieces and "handle this with as much class as she has always handled her victories," as Geddert told her, because "the job's not done yet."

""We will deal with that," Martha Karolyi said. "We will try to help her as much as possible. I would be very disappointed, too. … But what can you do? Sport is sport."

Sport is cruel, too. Especially this one.