And here is where we will offer a spoiler alert. How did the US team do? It’s chasing perfection, and Karolyi knows that will keep her pupils chasing, for the rest of their lives, in whatever they pursue.
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The U.S. women’s gymnastics team gave retiring national team coordinator Martha Karolyi a fitting send off in the Olympic finals on Tuesday night, putting on a two-hour display of precision and class.
Czechoslovakia – remember when we used to call it that?
LEWIS:.Back in 1960. This is how good the USA was tonight – the US team. And really, let’s name all of the gymnasts on the team – so Simone Biles, Gabby Douglas, Aly Raisman, Laurie Hernandez and Madison Kocian.
The U.S. posted the highest combined score on each of the four apparatuses. Unlike the other seven, the Americans didn’t slip off uneven bars. When you do that, Ari, you’re going to win. Traditionally Russia and China are gymnastics powerhouses. When the Code of Points opened up in 2006, USA coaches had a strategy for capitalizing by “adding difficulty smartly and safely”, Boorman said.
Russian Federation finished second, while China took the bronze medal. The U.S. scored just shy of 185 points. Russian Federation took the silver eight points behind. China took the bronze.
Eight points behind – Ari, this is a sport that is routinely measured in tenths of a point, in hundredths of a point.
“The 8-point gap between the USA and second-place Russian Federation was the largest since 1960, when the Soviet Union defeated Czechoslovakia by 8.997 points in Rome”, NPR reported. That’s how good the US was tonight. Did she fulfill expectations? I mean at 19, she’s already a superstar.
“We always want to do our best and just shine bright, I feel like each one of us just want to have fun and not worry about the results”.
Fragapane, the four-time Commonwealth champion, described her as “incredible”, while Rebecca Downie said she was “on another level”. At the ranch, Karolyi drills her gymnasts to do enough repetitions that they are sticking dismounts even in the subconscious mind.
It’s a system that demands “you can always be a little better”, she said. Simone Biles stands only 4-8, but her twisting flips through big air are far more impressive than Michael Jordan’s dunks.
LEWIS: Well, the all-around competition – the individual all-around competition is on Thursday.
Watch the Daily Dismount to hear Olympians Courtney Kupets Carter and Jonathan Horton recap all the action of today’s team final. Simon will be competing in the individual event finals on vault, on balance beam and on floor exercise.
Biles won’t be alone in the event finals.
For Biles on the vault read Kocian on the uneven bars, who produced the same score to help the favourites extend their lead. Biles was dissatisfied with her wobbles on beam, as was Aly Raisman and Hernandez, so they flung themselves into their final routines on floor with a stunning show of aerial wizardry and charisma. Raisman stuck almost every landing while Biles almost flipped to the rafters in her routine that uses music from the movie Rio.
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The #FinalFive will continue their Olympic journey with the Rio 2016 gymnastics all-around final on August 11.
