Douglas flies to gold in gymnastics all-around

Smiling 16-year-old Gabby Douglas took the Olympic Games by storm on Thursday when the American gymnast won the all-around gold medal ahead of Russia's Viktoria Komova.

"It just feels amazing to be called the Olympic champion," Douglas told a news conference, chattering at high speed. "I am on cloud nine."

Komova was reduced to tears for the second time in three days when Douglas beat her to the title by 0.259 of a point after producing the day's best performances on the vault and the beam.

Russia's Aliya Mustafina, who with Komova took team silver behind the Americans on Tuesday, clung on for bronze despite a fall from the beam. She and Douglas' compatriot Aly Raisman finished with the same total, but Mustafina won the medal on the tie-break rule.

Douglas, dubbed the "Flying Squirrel" for the shape she produces on the bars, was watched from the stands by teammate and world champion Jordyn Wieber, who had come into the Games touted as the favorite for Thursday's honors but failed to qualify for the final.

Raisman lost out on bronze despite finishing off with the second-best floor routine of the evening under the rule which separates equally-placed contestants by adding up the totals of their three best apparatus.

Douglas, though, was beyond the reach of such concerns, leading from the first of the four rotations, when she was the opener on the vault.