But Tuesday can change all that. Second-place team China sat almost 10 points behind the US with a score of 175.279.
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Al Trautwig, NBC’s gymnastics announcer at the Rio Games, apologized Monday for suggesting that Simone Biles’ parents through adoption are not really her parents. These Olympics could well come to belong to Simone Biles, the American gymnast whose talent is too phenomenal for nationalism to stand in the way.
The world will find out on Tuesday, Aug. 9 at 3 p.m. ET when the US compete for a second consecutive Olympic team title.
But yeah, women’s sports aren’t fun to watch. Biles, the three-time world champion, is expected to win multiple medals at these Games. And while those scores will be scrapped during the finals, Team USA will certainly look to meet or top its performance.
Before the Rio Olympics even started, it is a known fact that it will be a sure gold for the US for the team and all-around final. Mary Lou Retton was 16 when she became the first United States woman to win a gold medal in the individual Olympic all-around in 1984. Douglas placed third, but it’s Biles and Raisman who will go on to the all-around final on Thursday. It will be Raisman’s second appearance in an Olympic individual all-around final; she finished fourth in London. She’s the favorite to win all of them, including team gold on Tuesday.
But she will compete in the team and uneven bars finals, along with Kocian who led the way on the apparatus ahead of London Games gold medallist Aliya Mustafina of Russian Federation.
In fact, all of Team USA qualified for the event finals, which will begin Sunday.
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“I think everyone out there, we all performed how we trained, and that’s all very special – something we have to keep for team finals and any event finals that we qualified for”, Biles said.
