McKayla Maroney Vault 2012: Near Perfect Performance Stuns London Olympics

McKayla Maroney gave an amazing performance on the vault Tuesday, setting up a perfect platform for the U.S. gymnastics team to make their push for the gold medal.

The "Fab Five" gymnastics team came together perfectly as a team on Tuesday to win overall gold. One of the most acclaimed performances came from McKayla Maroney, who completed a near perfect vault.

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NBC Announcer Tim Dagget called Maroney's vault a "Perfect 10" and predicted that the judges would score her a perfect 16.5. However, in the end she fell just short, scoring 16.233 - still an immense score to set a high standard in the push for gold.

Maroney performed the Amanar, which is considered among the most difficult vaults possible in the sport. Her near perfect execution and landing sparked a wild round of applause in the arena, and Maroney herself looked delighted and relieved that she had pulled it off.

"All the Americans can hit Amanars, which are considered the most difficult and dangerous vaults in the world," Emily Bayci explained. "It consists of a round-off onto the board, then a back handspring onto the table and 2.5 twisting somersaults before the landing. Its start value is a 6.5, which is more than .5 points better than the other gymnasts."

Was Maroney's vault actually perfect, some ask? While the judge's personal opinions will likely never be revealed, most of Maroney's fans still tend to think so. Perfect or not, the high score didn't stand alone, and was enough to bring the U.S. Olympic Girl's Gymnastic Team the highest prize- a gold medal.