Jewish girl from Massachusetts stuns spectators and becomes the new focus of the U.S. squad.

American Alexandra Raisman competes on the balance beam during the artistic gymnastics women's team qualification at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Sunday, July 29, 2012, in London. Photo by AP By Allison Kaplan Sommer

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Israelis may have been disappointed by the performance of their country’s Olympic athletes on Sunday, but American Jews were collectively kvelling at the showing of gymnast Alexandra Raisman, who was the undisputed star of the NBC Sunday night Olympic broadcast.

Raisman, 18, a nice Jewish girl from Massachusetts known by her nickname Aly, not only stunned spectators by grabbing one of the two spots in the all-around individual finals for the U.S., but she did it by performing a floor exercise routine to the tune of “Hava Nagila.” Her win pushed her teammate - favorite Jordan Wieber - out of the final and ‘sent shockwaves’ through the arena, vaulting her to the new focus of the U.S. squad...Read here...

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Alexandra Raisman celebrates winning a gold medal in the women's gymnastics floor exercise victory ceremony in the North Greenwich Arena during the London 2012 Olympic Games Tuesday.

Brian Snyder/REUTERS... Read here...

.A winning day for U.S. gymnast Alexandra Raisman Read here

By Diane Pucin LONDON — The finish to Alexandra Raisman's Olympics was so much more fabulous than the start.