As the event took place in Atlanta, the crowd was heavily pro-United States, and the cheering and flash photography was at an unprecedented level. The crowd continued to cheer on its team as the group moved to the floor exercise where Phelps led off with a great start. Borden, Moceanu, and Dawes followed, all without significant error. As predicted, Moceanu's floor music, "The Devil Went Down to Georgia," was a smash hit with the already raucous crowd. Following Dawes was Miller who showed the first obvious error in any of the American routines when she under-rotated her opening tumbling pass, a double layout. Although a major break, Miller avoided touching the floor with her hands, finished strongly, and the team ultimately dropped her score of 9.618. Strug anchored the team and earned a 9.837, qualifying first to event finals along with Moceanu who also earned a 9.837 and qualified fourth. Dawes, who posted the team's high optionals floor exercise score of 9.850, would have qualified seventh to the event finals but because of the rule that only two gymnasts from each country can compete, she was to be left out. The team was leading Russia as the group moved to vault.