The gold – Team USA’s second consecutive – makes Raisman and Douglas the only US women to win three Olympic gold medals.
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In London, the Fierce Five held hands as they stared at the scoreboard and cried as the results came up. This is Biles’ first, of a possible five, gold medals. The ladies successfully defended their Olympic title, scoring a total of 184.897, easily surpassing their competition.
Maybe that’s because for Hernandez, Biles, Gabby Douglas, Madison Kocian and Aly Raisman, the meets are the fun part of their jobs.
After Biles finished her power-packed floor exercise, the scoreboard showed that the United States had amassed 184.897 points, an eight-point gap over silver medal-winning team Russian Federation, and the largest margin in the history of the event. For comparison, that’s only.685 ahead of bronze medal-winning China, and 4.601 than Brazil, who came in last out of the eight teams.
They put in such a spectacular performance that three-times world all around champion Biles needed to overhaul a target of just 7.591 with her final floor performance to secure the first Olympic gold of her career. Raisman’s score of 15.000 was a jump up from her 14.833 in qualification.
When Biles’ score for the floor exercise was announced, sealing the deal and earning them the gold medal, the ladies huddled up and yelled their team name, which was a secret until now-the Final Five.
For Biles on the vault read Kocian on the uneven bars, who produced the same score to help the favourites extend their lead.
It also meant the USA retained the title it won in London four years ago. “Right before I went up for my routine, I looked straight at her, she just said, ‘You’ve got it Simone.’ That calmed me a lot”, Biles told Dillman.
“We competed with the understanding that the USA team were stronger than us”.
And Hernandez, Raisman, and Biles absolutely crushed it on the floor exercise.
Download the Team USA app today for breaking news, 2016 U.S. Olympic Team bios, videos and more. They were always the clear favorites to win the competition but it’s the margin that has surprised everyone and won the women’s gymnastics team accolades from all across the globe.
Her family were in the crowd to witness her first Olympic gold.
“We just thought the name was ideal because it is Marta’s previous year and we are the “final five” for her and it is wonderful to end it off with her like this”.
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For the greatest team in USA gymnastics history, it has only just begun.
