Biles, Gabby Douglas, Aly Raisman, Madison Kocian and Laurie Hernandez – claimed gold by a margin of over eight points on Russian Federation with China winning bronze in the Rio Olympic Arena.
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Douglas made history in 2012 when she became the first African-American female gymnast to win the individual, all-around medal at the Olympic Games.
In London, Raisman, Douglas, Jordyn Wieber, McKayla Maroney and Kyla Ross were originally named Fab Five, but they changed it because the name had previously been used for the University of Michigan’s 1991 men’s basketball team.
The big question now is whether the members of Team USA, including Biles who is competing at her first Games, will be able to replicate their dazzling performances throughout the individual events, which begin on Sunday.
The scores for artistic gymnastics come from the combined average team scores for floor exercise, vault, uneven bars, and balance beam. All three Americans scored over 15 points on the vault performances, with Aly Raisman (15.833) and Simone Biles (15.933) leading the way.
Biles, who has dominated the sport since 2013 where she made her senior debut, is firmly on her way to being the first gymnast to win five medals in a single Olympic Games competition.
LEWIS:.Back in 1960. This is how good the US was tonight – the USA team. Most obviously, the 2016 team is the last one guided by gymnastics legend Martha Karolyi, who is serving as the national team coordinator. And she’s only 19. The 2015 junior national champion out of Old Bridge, New Jersey, finished second in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in July, behind Biles. Biles performed to thundrous applause and her floor routine to the samba classic “Mas que nada” had the whole house clapping to the strong baseline.
The Olympic team final is a test of a nation’s breadth and depth of gymnastics talent.
“I think we were all really just fierce and determined”, Douglas said.
Despite slight wobbles from Raisman, Hernandez and Biles, they hit all three routines on balance beam.
Come Tuesday night, the US women will win their second consecutive Olympic title.
“In the next four years we will try our best to narrow the gap between the United States of America team and us”, said the 20-year-old Shang, who is the captain of team China.
“They were not only physically prepared, but mentally prepared, and that’s a nice place to be because you don’t have to snap anybody into place”, US Olympic coach Aimee Boorman said, according to the USA Gymnastics website. With Raisman’s 15.366 and Biles’ 15.800, the Americans easily clinched gold.
“We never want to go into it like we don’t have to try”, said Douglas.
In the month since making the Olympic team, Biles and Hernandez have discussed their relationship with Andrews and the role mental coaching has played in their ascents as candidly as any elite athletes have been willing to do.
The reality is that gold medal-winning skier Lindsay Vonn, who’s shown in a amusing commercial failing miserably in an effort to become a Summer Games athlete, probably could have done well enough on the floor for the Americans to win. “If you try to run, it’s hard to catch up”, US coach Mihai Brestyan said. She could win a total of five while in Rio which would add to her already exhaustive collection of World Championship medals (she’s got 10).
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Every elite gymnast has a signature event – something that sets him or her apart from the rest of the pack. Her score of 62.366 was well clear of teammate Aly Raisman.
