LONDONHow close did Needham gymnast Aly Raisman come to earning a medal in the women's all-around Thursday in the 2012 London Olympics?
This close:
Raisman and Russia's Aliya Mustafina finished tied for third -- the bronze medal -- with identical scores of 59.566. In case of a tie, the lowest scores for both gymnasts are dropped, and the remaining three are totaled. That gave Mustafina a total of 45.933 and Raisman 45.366.
Mustafina took the bronze, and Raisman felt the frustration.
"It's really disappointing, but I'm really happy for Gabby," said Raisman, captain of the U.S. team. "But it's definitely really frustrating because we tied for third place. I was so close."
The U.S.'s Gabby Douglas took the gold -- the third straight American to win gymnastics' biggest prize, and the first African-American -- and Russia's Viktoria Komova, runner-up at last year's world championships, won the silver.