dropped down. traffic dropped by two-thirds averting the monster gridlock predicted. the u.s. women's soccer team world cup quest ended in heartbreak. they lost the final to japan only on penalty kicks after overtime. congratulations to japan. i'm don lemon in atlanta. thank you very much for watching. see you nix weekend. good night. >> announcer: tonight on "cnn presents" ice wars in the arctic. >> come with me aboard this the u.s. nuclear powered submarine as we go underneath the polar ice cap. >> narrator: inside the new cold war. extreme cheerleading. defying stereotypes. >> and now it's my life. it's pretty much who i am. >> narrator: where winning is the only option. but first -- >> three words that describe whitey bulger. >> stone cold killer. >> narrator: he was a mobster

the fbi could not catch. deborah feyerick takes you inside one of the biggest manhunts in fbi history. [ bagpipes ] ♪ >> reporter: the church bells of saint monica near the harbor in south boston have sounded for generations of irish immigrants. [ bell ringing ] >> reporter: it is a tight-knit community that's always protected its own, a place james "whitey" bulger, one of boston's most notorious gangsters calleded home. bulger learned to fight and survive on the mean streets of south boston, known as southy to locals like john shay who would work for bulger. >> the guy was legendary. he made tough guys shake. he made them shake. >> reporter: bulger's life of crime started early. arrested in his teens he was robbing banks by age 20. his shock of blond hair earning him the name "whitey" a name

he's said to despise. with his good looks and flamboyance, he imagined himself boston's version of hollywood gangster jimmy cagney. instead of red carpets, he was headed to alcatraz, a string of bank robberies landing him ten years in federal prison at age 25. he did his time. upon release vowed he would never, ever go back. >> they had no hard proof. >> reporter: boston globe reporters dick lair and gerald o'neal uncovered the deal he cut to make sure of it. >> he got out of prison in 1965. we started doing research in 1988. he hadn't got so much as a parking ticket. >> reporter: whitey bulger, fresh from prison, went to work as a mob enforcer. but bulger wanted more. federal investigators say he'd stop at nothing to get it. >> then he went on a killing rampage. i think it's like a month he killed six guys in 1972.

>> he was ambitious and making his move. >> reporter: he was making his move with this man, steve fleney, aka the rifleman. among their alleged victims, his own girlfriend deborah davis. >> before dna was in use to identify victims he would personally get involved in cutting off the fingers or hands of the victims and extracting their teeth. >> reporter: tom fuentes ran the crime squad for fbi headquarters. give me three words to describe bulger. >> stone cold killer. >> reporter: why kill debbie davis? authorities say she knew bulger's secret connection with another kid from southy, john conley. >> for him it was like meeting ted williams. the idea of equating -- >> a gangster to a baseball player. >> to a baseball icon shows you the twisted values in perception

that's part of john conley. >> reporter: conley was a young ambitious fbi agent who grew up in the same housing projects. back in the '70s and '80s the fbi's number one priority was taking down the italian mafia. bulger became a prized informant. >> he did everything including breaking laws over the years to keep that alive. >> reporter: in a series of ground-breaking articles for the boston gloub globe lair and o'neal uncovered what fbi sources called a dangerous alliance. >> in 176 conley tipped him off about a rival and bulger killed him. so conley had to realize right away how serious and deadly this arrangement was. >> reporter: protected by conley and others, bulger's criminal enterprise skyrocketed. court documents show bulger knew when police were watching, knew when they were moving in and knew when to disappear. he was shaking down book makers,

loan sharks. this was a guy who was a really bad guy. >> everything that i wanted to be. >> reporter: as his power grew, so did that of his younger brother billy. >> i want you to know we are all on an open microphone, mr. president. >> reporter: well respected as president of the massachusetts state senate. >> how do you beat a guy with intelligence and the keks he has in that world? brother's a senate president. fbi is protecting him. it was one big family living in the projects like this. >> reporter: john shay, now a changed man, once man the multi-million dollar drug operation for bulger. >> growing up here he had to be tough. >> reporter: he served 12 years in prison rather than break southy's code of silence. >> whitey being a rat, stevie being a rat and this is what i took an oath to?

an oath of honor? it was heartbreaking. >> reporter: documents show fbi agent conley continued to feed bulger secret information, at times with deadly results. >> bulger got charged with a crime then he could no longer be an informant. >> reporter: attorney bill kristy represents families of several of bulger's alleged victims including billy halloran, a drug dealer who cut a deal with the fbi only to be gunned down as he left a popular restaurant. according to testimony at a civil trial fbi agent conley told bulger where to find halloran. >> bulger cornered him and shot him 22 times starting with the leg up to his torso to his chest. 22 times with no head shot. he inflicted as much pain as he could. also did it in a fashion to make sure he knew halloran would die. >> reporter: in a case of wrong place, wrong time michael donahue was giving halloran a

ride home. donahue was killed instantly leaving behind a wife and three young kids who, to this day, blame the fbi in the death. >> john conley is a big reason my father is dead. >> it's a hole in your heart. you're thinking about what's going to take place hopefully in the future. and then there is no future with that person. so that's a pretty gut-wrenching feeling. >> reporter: in 1994 whitey bulger's nearly 20-year reign came to an end in what was likely conley's parting gift authorities say he alerted bulger to a pending indictment and true to his word never to return to prison, bulger disappeared with his long-time mistress catherine leading to one of the fbi's greatest embarrassments and one of its largest manhunts. what was whitey bulger's life about? >> power, strength, money.

he was like a king, that guy. he was like a king. >> reporter: coming up, how one of america's most notorious gangsters remained comfortably hidden for nearly 16 years. >> he became the elvis of gangsters. almost tastes like one of jack's cereals. fiber one. uh, forgot jack's cereal. [ jack ] what's for breakfast? um... try the number one! [ jack ] yeah, this is pretty good. [ male announcer ] half a day's worth of fiber. fiber one. with two children and no way to support them. people told me i wasn't going to do anything. and i just decided i have more to offer than that. i put myself through nursing school, and then i decided to go get a doctorate degree. university of phoenix gave me the knowledge to make a difference in people's lives. my name is dr. kimberly horton. i manage a network of over a thousand nurses, and i am a phoenix. [ male announcer ] find your program at phoenix.edu.

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>> reporter: santa monica is the perfect place to retire. beautiful beaches packed with people. an ideal place to blend in or disappear. that's precisely what whitey bulger did. the reputed crime boss and his long-time girlfriend catherine greig setting up house blocks away from the ocean in a corner apartment partly hidden by trees. bulger had planned ahead knowing he may one day run says tom fuentes who spent years tracking the fugitives. >> he had millions in cash. he took off to a number of different countries and cities and put cash in safe deposit boxes he could access later. he didn't need to be contacting people. he could establish a new

identity and eventually just take over a new name. >> reporter: that identity, mr. and mrs. charlie and carol gasco, a self-described chicago businessman and his younger wife who were into nutrition and long walks and who secretly stuffed stacks of cash and heavy duty assault weapons in the apartment walls. >> these are your neighbors. >> yeah. that's the way i saw them. >> reporter: that's how you always saw them? >> uh-huh. only him with a hat. i didn't know he was bald. >> reporter: 88-year-old catalina eventually befriended her neighbors, but there were privacy boundaries you didn't cross like asking them to hold a spare key in case of emergency. >> she says, let me talk to my husband. she came back and said, no, charlie said he doesn't want you to give him anything. no, we don't want to. >> reporter: by all accounts

bulger kept a low profile. he didn't have problems with the people who lived on his hall. according to one neighbor he didn't divulge much but said he had originally come from chicago and fought in the korean war. the neighbor said a couple times he caught bulger on the balcony peering out with binoculars. from his crime days bulger knew the easiest way to be caught was to be complacent. he changed his patterns. even when it came to getting his hair cut. says fehi mama betts, salon own >> i asked him to make appointment but he never did. he just walked in. he never left me a number or anything. >> reporter: court documents show they had numerous fake identities. after his arrest bulger said he went gambling in las vegas, took trips to tijuana to buy medication and even returned to boston on business allegedly

telling agents he was armed to the teeth. all the while the fbi was scrambling to find the gangster who had corrupted bureau agents. >> that's probably the worst thing. >> reporter: former fbi special agent in charge barry mohen arrived two years after bulger disappeared and put bulger on the top ten most wanted list and had him featured on shows, even in a dick tracy comic book. >> we weren't trying to hide him or not find him. if you looked at what we did, it's imabpossible to draw that conclusion. >> reporter: officials say 12,000 leads came in over 16 years. fuentes, leading the fbi east international effort said they followed up sightings in ireland, london and south america. >> there were thousands of police officers involved in the around the clock operation. any time there was a sighting of him worldwide, everybody went

full bore to follow up on leads to find him. he became the elvis of gangsters. he was constantly being spotted. >> have you seen this woman? >> reporter: the break in the case came in june after the fbi paid for a public service announcement aimed at finding bulger's girlfriend. it never even aired in los angeles. but a news story led to a crucial tip and an arrest three days later. bulger, lured into the garage on a ruse that someone had broken into his locker. these are some of the 30 weapons fbi agents confiscated from bulger's apartment. >> van number one, van number two. >> reporter: after more than 5,000 days on the run, bulger was brought back to boston in handcuffs, charged with 19 murders. in court he denied them all. the damage he caused to the fbi still haunts the bureau to this day. in hindsight do you think the fbi acted too slowly to follow up on rumors that there was a

leak and a dangerous leak that was letting whitey bulger run free? >> yes. i do think that. >> reporter: how this plays out is anyone's guess. bulger turns 82 in september. will he cooperate? stand trial? cut a deal? depends on who you ask. his former drug boss john shay, now a writer, says bulger has the feds right where he wants them. >> he's playing them. trust me. psychologically, he is playing them. is he giving them information? is he talking to them? you guarantee he is. >> reporter: so why here? why so near the statue of santa monica? consider this. in south boston, bulger grew up attending the church of saint monica. perhaps it's a coincidence. perhaps it's a clue.

some kind of locator. after all, whitey bulger left little to chance. >> announcer: next on cnn presents, why the u.s. navy built this remote camp in the frigid arctic. >> man battle stations. >> announcer: and goes under the ice on a nuclear submarine. later? >> no, it's not good enough. >> announcer: they don't just cheer on the sidelines. a team determined to win a world championship at any cost. >> you know, this is it. this is what's going to determine the success of your year. oes a long time. they're kind of my thing. and they were looking... nasty. vile. but i used tide and tide booster, and look at them now! now they can be my thing forever. yay. that's my tide. what's yours? i use tide sport because it helps get odors out of athletic clothes. i mean, i wear my yoga pants for everything.

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it's a pleasant 60 degrees at my home in l.a. today. where i'm going it could be as cold as 60 below zero. every two years the u.s. military conducts an operation in the arctic circle called ice exercise, better known as ice-x. the arctic region consists of eight countries that border a vast ice-covered ocean. no one country owns the arctic.

there shall some agreements governing who controls what territory but as the ice melts the lines on the map are changing and each nation is competing to extend its arctic border to claim a greater piece of the valuable high north. i don't think often about what's going on in the arctic. with global warming opening up vast riches of resources and military exercises with nuclear subs converging underneath the polar ice cap, i want to know what's going on at the top of the world. and why. as i launch to the arctic i talk via skype with arctic expert professor rob hubert about the spike in activity in the region. >> most states are moving toward the improvement of combat capable forces in the region. no one is calling for an arctic war or conflict at this point. it is telling that we have two american attack submarines doing scientific research off the coast of alaska.

last stop in the u.s. before heading to the ice station, prudho ebay, alaska. time to get armed with real cold weather gear. >> hopefully everyone has a book, survival in the arctic. >> reporter: the only way to get where we are going is a six-seater bush plane. finally, amidst a sea of arctic ice we spot the camp. >> how you doing? >> reporter: with the u.s. submarines below our feet i get my first look at a series of simple wooden huts built in the last two months to protect everyone from the extreme conditions. look at this right here. a balmy 10 degrees. about 50 people from sailors to scientists have been adjusting to living at the ice station over the course of the exercise.

>> there's no magazine rack or anything in there. also importantly is the effectiveness of toilet paper is significantly diminished at minus 40. >> reporter: basic survival is enhanceded. you can't go out without a rifle because of polar bears. we are on five feet of ice and we are moving two to four miles per hour. it's just floating. over the course of the one-month exercise it will move 70 miles from drift alone. so why am i here? why has the arctic become a hot spot? the world is physically changing beneath my feet. with global warming, the polar ice cap is melting, opening up an ocean for the first time since the ice age. this created access to new resources but also competition at the top of the world. if the arctic sea opens uh ships

sailing from the atlantic to the pacific oceans traditionally rely on the panama canal route can instead use the northwest passage saving hundreds of millions of dollars. a third of the world's natural gas is believed to be under the polar ice cap. the arctic riches contain everything from oil to minerals to diamonds. not everyone believes the quest for resources means competition. in anchorage i was briefed by professor brigham lawson. >> there is complexity. can be friction. but not at a high level of military conflict issues that i would see. >> reporter: professor lawson's colleague from the university of calgary disagrees. >> i think at this point we are on the cusp of becoming remilitarized. people are thinking in military terms more than they did since the end of the cold war. >> back at ice camp, military

exercises are, indeed, under way. >> maverick, roger, all lines to sierra, receive. >> reporter: the command hut monitors and communicates with u.s. submarines 24 hours a day. >> this is the connecticut right here. that's us in the middle. >> reporter: in the past submarines had to surface to communicate. one of the systems in development allows base catch to send texts to the sub under the ice. >> it's almost like a tweet. tweet to submarines down here. i press send. there is a hydrophone that blasts out the sound. sounds like crickets. >> reporter: many operations are classified. we saw testing, acoustics, sub tracking, sonar, all under the prel of research. in your opinion what's the purpose of ice-x? >> clearly there is a scientific basis. it's a nice little cover but the

reality is the american navy is clearly showing that it is back. >> reporter: this is a land grab. this is the u.s. presence in the high north. but we are not alone. other nations are rapidly building their capabilities in the arctic as well. russia is creating an arctic armed forces. just this month announcing it will deploy two army brigades including special forces. it has resumed strategic bomber flight over the north pole. the canadian government has eight patrol vessels. denmark has f-16s deployed. norway has new frigates. >> reporter: and the real value is beneath the surface. that's where we are going next, on a nuclear submarine under the ice. you need a little help with your mortgage, want to avoid foreclosure. smart move. candy? um-- well, you know, you're in luck.

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i'm don lemon. here are your headlines. after being under police scrutiny for more than three years casey anthony is now free but we don't know where. anthony walked out of an orlando jail after midnight sunday. 12 days earlier a jury acquitted her of murdering her daughter. about 1,000 people were outside the jail in protest. [ chanting "caylee" ] >> security was high. her attorneys say she's had

multip multiple death threats. her parents' attorneys believe she's left orlando. ♪ celebration >> "celebration" from kool & the gang was the latest wake-up song for the crew on the "atlantis." it was played for mission specialist sandy magnus seen here with her crew members. the crew later answered questions from middle school students. the u.s. women's soccer team world cup quest ended in heartbreak. the americans lost the final to japan on penalty kicks after overtime ended with a 2-2 tie. the loss ends a magical run as the u.s. team hoped to become the fist americans to win the cup since is t1999. japan persevered to be the first asian team to ever win the tournament. those are your headlines. i'm don lemon. cnn, the most troy westwoed nam.

>> reporter: in 2007 a scientific exploration planted a russian flag at the bottom of the arctic seabed. what some publically dismissed as a political stunt was privately considered a sputnik-like moment. according to secret leaked cables published by wikileaks the rest of the world began scrambling to get a piece of the arctic pie. that's how i came to be t n the arctic circle to see the escalating tension and activity in the region. oh, yeah. that's brisk. at daybreak, we headed out to rendezvous with one of the two u.s. nuclear submarines patrolling in the arctic. you know "planes, trains & automobiles"? the cnn version is ice planes, helicopters and submarines. the helicopter dropped us and

our equipment at the rendezvous site. a three-foot thick sheet of ice several miles from base camp. with no ocean in sight, hundreds of miles from the nearest cell phone tower it was hard to imagine how a submarine would find me. >> are we a go for icemansur fasing? >> reporter: an x in the ice indicated where the sub was to surface. then the ground started to rumble. with 18 feet of the 353-foot long sea wolf class sub on the surface, the ground crew takes chainsaws to cut their way through the ice to the hull.

the then commanding officer is first up from below. >> this ship is amazing. amazing capabilities here. >> reporter: after weeks under water the crew took a few moments of fresh air a. we loaded the gear and headed below decks. >> stationary dive. >> open four and a half main vents. >> reporter: a small camera mounted on top of the sub was our only visual reference that we were making a descent 300 feet below the surface of the polar ice cap. one of the amazing things about a modern submarine is that they are almost entirely self-sufficient like a biodome. they run on nuclear energy so they can virtually go forever. they make their own oxygen with this oxygen-generating plant right here. they even make their own water through a process called hydrolysis where they skraub scrub salt water. the only thing that limits a

submarine is how much food they can carry. the 160-man crew doesn't exactly follow a regular schedule. >> the ship is in a six-hour rotation watch. so you end up feeding the crew four times a day. >> reporter: the sub operates on an 18-hour day. a sailor gets six hours on watch, six hours off, six to sleep before it starts all over again. after our first meal on board we began navigating the passageways of the sub. i ran into petty officer joshua cosan to ask what life is like on the sub p.m. this is basically your home away from home. opens up. we've got a bunch of treats. you know, different things you need. all your clothes, magazines or whatever you bring under with you. you can bring snacks or whatever as long as it stays in your rack. you have to keep it in here, keep it clean. >> reporter: space is such a commodity every nook & cranny is

used for something. finally, we deskrended to level three. >> we are taking you into the torpedo room which is the heart and soul of the submarine. >> reporter: the "connecticut" is an attack sub, designed to be quite and fast it carries up to 50 advanced capability torpedos and tomahawk land attack missiles. it runs on nuclear power but doesn't carry nuclear weapons. its purpose is to find subs that do reminding us of our primary reason for being here. 25 years ago it was common for u.s. and soviet subs to play cat and mouse underneath the ice. with the break-up of the soviet union that activity ebbed. now reneweded interest in the arctic brought new players with rumors of chinese subs operating in the region as well as the old guard, u.s. and russia. as the nations gear up, the "connecticut" is preparing for war beneath the sea. >> man battle stations.

[ alarm sounding ] >> man battle stations. >> all stations. >> reporter: this was just a drill. but the captain reminded the crew of the larger purpose. >> it's always good to do this, even up here while we conduct the exercises under the ice because this is our main mission, taking this ship into harm's way and protecting our country. great job getting on station. >> reporter: after traveling thousands of miles on planes, smoeb snowmobiles, helicopters and submarines we had come to a region in flux. what seemed like a cold wasteland masked a changing environment. vast resources are up for grabs. couched in the language of diplomacy countries are preaching cooperation but

simultaneously preparing for conflict. the cold war is over. as i disembark the submarine i was left with the feeling that there might be a new type of cold war under way at the top of the world. >> announcer: coming up, dedicated athletes willing to do whatever it takes to hold onto the world championship title. >> you would expect a football player playing in the super bowl to play even if he had an injury. fiber one. uh, forgot jack's cereal. [ jack ] what's for breakfast? um... try the number one! [ jack ] yeah, this is pretty good. [ male announcer ] half a day's worth of fiber. fiber one.

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okay, girls. from one. here we go. >> reporter: from from the sidelines of a football field, this defies the stereotype of what it means to be a cheerleader. >> let's go! >> reporter: it's called all-star cheerleading. it's as demanding and athletic as many sports. and in a decade, it's become wildly popular. [ cheers ] >> reporter: piercely competitive, and for some of the 200,000 young women involved, it's become their world. [ screaming ]

>> reporter: 17-year-old maddy gardener is one of the best all-star cheerleaders in the country. she's been competing since she was 7 years old. >> yeah, maddy, come on! >> competitive cheer leading is more action-packed and more difficult than high school cheerleading. to me, it is my passion. it became my sport. now it's my life and it's what i do. it's pretty much who i am. >> come on, guys! >> reporter: maddy trains year round at cheer extreme in north carolina. one of the largest and most elite all-star cheerleading gyms. >> it is a big commitment to be here, you know, every day for three, four hours. i'm doing homework on the way here, homework in practice breaks. i'm taking four a.p. classes. so i really set high goals for

myself. i think cheerleading has sought me that, too. don't settle for second best. >> reporter: do you feel you have had to sacrifice any of your teenage years for the sport? >> i wouldn't want to be anywhere else, honestly. this is what i love to do. >> that did not count. >> reporter: her coach courtney says the dedication on maddy's team is as intense as practices. >> more than 50% of the team live two hours away. that means getting in the car at 4:00, hoping you don't have traffic, get here for practice at 6:00, get home at midnight and start all over again. >> reporter: maddy's team competes at regional and national events, performing two and a half minute routines of tumblinging, stunts and impressive team work. you are a flyer. >> i am. >> reporter: the center point flyer. >> oh, yeah. >> reporter: what does that mean? >> i am in the center of the routine for the stunting part.

you, in a way, carry the stunt sequence. the judges focus in on the center of the routine. >> reporter: what's the most challenging stunt you do? >> it's called a ball-up 360 tick-tock. i think it is the most challenging right now on the market. >> reporter: but it's one you nail? >> yeah, most of the time. knock on wood. it was the first time anyone had ever done something like that. that skill last year at worlds when i performed it. >> reporter: maddy is talking about the all-star cheerleading world championship. >> it's like a gymnast going to the olympics. you know, that's their ultimate goal. [ screaming ] >> reporter: last year, maddy's stunt helpeded her team win a gold medal for the first time. >> it was kind of just like all this emotion exploded and i just kind of threw my body onto the

floor. it was really emotional. just relief, knowing that everything that i worked for for the past couple years had paid off. >> reporter: the team's success turned maddy into a cheerlebrity. hundreds of fans want to be friends with her now on facebook. >> i have 960 friend requests right now. >> reporter: with the 2011 championship just weeks away, maddie's team is counting on her to help them win gold again. you guys are going in as reigning world champions this year. the pressure must be intense. >> i definitely feel like it's harder to hold onto the top spot than it was climbing to the top last year. so it's definitely stressful. >> totally unacceptable. >> reporter: maddie feels the pressure perhaps more than anyone. she is haunted by a devastating fall at the world championship in 2009. the team's mistakes cost them

the gold. maddie blames herself. >> you know, it's still in the back of my mind even though you try to push it out. i felt like i ruined it for everybody which is some hard feelings to go through. >> three, two, one. ♪ >> reporter: so maddie pushes herself even harder. but just weeks before this year's competition, a sudden setback. >> they told me that i had sprained my acl and that other ligament. hopefully i will be able to practice for the rest of the time leading up to worlds. ♪ ♪

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welcome to practice! get ready! here we go. come on! come on, finish it! come on, guys. stay with it! we already know that's a mistake. you need to fix it. try it again. >> i told you to be careful. >> ow! >> reporter: the world championship of all-star cheerleading is just weeks away and cheer extreme's chances of holding onto the title suddenly seem to be slipping away.

the team star, maddie gardner is on the sidelines with a painful knee injury. >> it's really hot. it feels hike filike fire hones. when i first got hurt it felt like a hot knife. it's a milder version of that. >> i fell out of a stunt. almost tore my acl which would have been really bad. >> reporter: after missing a week of training maddie cautiously takes the mat and works through the pain. >> the more i do the worse it gets. i probably shouldn't be doing as much but it will be worth it in the end. ♪ >> oh! >> five, six! >> reporter: maddie is ready to do whatever it takes to hold onto their title. for the next three weeks the team will spend four to five days a week in the gym,

practicing for perfection. >> no! >> reporter: with their coach courtney pope. >> who remembers the practice for four hours where i stood here and we fixed every single person this way snrk every step has to be in synch. >> it is not together. this is no more synchronized in the opening than it was in january when we made it up. >> reporter: every flip, flawless. >> no. it's not good enough. >> come on! >> reporter: they will do it over and over until they get it right. >> hit one and stop. you're exhausteded, right? these are the moments when worlds is won or not. do the stunt again tired and mean it. here we go. >> reporter: as the championship approaches, maddie's determination gets stronger. what are you going to do at worlds if your knee is acting up? >> you would expect a football player playing in the super bowl to play even if he had an

injury. it's the same thing to me. i mean, this is the olympics of our sport. so obviously i'm going to get through it. we're not going to let anything stop us this year. >> announcer: please welcome to the floor cheer extreme, senior elite! [ applause ] >> reporter: saturday, april 30, 2011. the first day of the world championships. ♪ >> reporter: after an impressive performance, maddie gardner feels confident going into finals the next day. >> everything was perfect. everything hit. we were on time. ♪ >> it was synchronized. all the stunts were up. it was just unbelievable. [ cheers and applause ] >> it's 271.1. >> reporter: but the mood suddenly changes when the team

learns they are in third place. [ crying ] >> hey, hey. i know that we are disappointed in the ranking. but the reality is that close, do you want to go third? >> no! >> do you want to fix it? >> yes. right now. >> reporter: desperate to hold onto the title they want to practice now. but it's near midnight and there are no open gyms. >> one, two, three and four. >> reporter: so they wake up early for an emergency practice on the golf course behind the hotel. >> you cannot, like, be jack russell terriers that decides you are going to get to your pyramid spot faster than anybody else. >> reporter: maddie is pushing through the pain in her knee. >> you can't help but think this is it. this is what's going to determine the sesz uccess of yo year. >> reporter: no more time to practice. now it's game time. >> look me in the eyes. i watched your team 700 trillion

times. i know we can be even better. got it? i know we can. >> you've got to talk about it. let's all just admit that, like, we're terrified. you can't practice to the point where you're like, we absolutely have this. who knows what's going to happen? >> reporter: backstage, the team tries to calm their nerves. [ chanting ] >> announcer: from north carolina, senior elite! ♪ >> reporter: it begins near perfect. then maddie's famous stunt --

comes crashing down. watching the replay is tough. [ applause ] >> maddie! yes! >> reporter: it wasn't the only mistake and they know the gold medal is probably out of reach. walk me through what happened here at worlds today. >> i felt ready, but i didn't feel like i knew i should. first part of the routine was just awesome. when it came to my specialty stunt it went bad. i don't really know what happened. >> announcer: all right. we are moving on to the globes. the top three teams. the bronze champion, cheer extreme all stars. >> reporter: after all the dedication, sweat and sacrifice

it's hard to hear they aren't world champions. their rivals take home the gold. >> it's hard not to feel like it was your fault. pretty much going into this all we had to do was hit and we could win. that just -- it wasn't happening for us. >> maddie, she'll be fine. maddie is a brilliant genius. it takes setbacks and, you know, disappointments to really get to the best of who we all can be. she's going to be something fantastic. >> reporter: it's an emotional end to a year of intense pressure and gruelling training. but practice is starting all over for the next season. and maddie will go for the gold again. >> maybe now that we're not on top we can come back next year and take it back. we'll see