It's getting worse before it's getting better for the USA men's gymnastics team, and that includes Los Angeles area native Sam Mikulak.
The Americans came into Monday out of medal contention and needed a strong showing in the vault in order to improve their standing and possibly sneak onto the medal stand.
Instead, the negative momentum endured throughout the games continued as John Orozco got the team off to a bad start by scoring only a 14.6 on his run.
Then came Mikulak. He faired better than Orozco by scoring a 15.966 but he stepped out of bounds on his landing. While the other teams were posting scores above 16, the Americans were sitting on the wrong end of the number.
Two rotations remain and doubts have settled in. The team was in search of improvement from bronze medal finishes at the 2008 Olympics and 2011 world championships but it looks like they'll need a miracle to reach the medal stand at all.
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