How and why Gabby won

A move-by-move analysis of the women's gymnastics competition manages to explain exactly why American Gabby Douglas won gold and Russia's Viktoria Komova won silver.

Using a graphics interface format, or GIF, the Atlantic wire's Elspeth Reeve deconstructs the two arch-rivals on the balance beam, the floor sequence, the horse and the bars. Full points to Komova for artistry and to Douglas for athleticism. In a continuous loop, you can see the American has toes that seem to be able to hold their grip on the balance beam and keep her upright.

Komova was leading after the preliminaries. Another continuous loop shows her wobbly dismount from the horse, an excruciating moment she'll probably play as a continuous loop in her mind for years to come.

At the end, the very end, it was just as close as it seemed: Komova 61.973, Douglas, 62.232.

AP/U.S. gymnast and gold medallist Gabrielle Douglas, center, Russian gymnast and silver medallist Victoria Komova, right, and Russian gymnast and bronze medallist Aliya Mustafina stand on the podium.