The collective strength of the Americans – with Kocian securing the team’s highest mark of the day (15.933) with her high-flying bars routine – left Biles needing to overhaul a paltry target of just 7.591 with her final floor performance to secure the first Olympic gold of her career.
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Gold has a way of overturning conventional wisdom.
It’s back-to-back Olympic gold medals for the USA women’s gymnastics team!
Call it a two-peat for the London gold medalists. The reigning Olympic champions topped Russian Federation by more than 8 points, twice the gap that separated second from last place in the eight team final. It was the largest margin of victory in an Olympic women’s team final since the 1960 Games in Rome, where the Soviet Union defeated Czechoslovakia by 8.997 points.
“We’ve been pretty dominant the last couple of years”, said Aly Raisman, captain in London and again in Rio.
Madison Kocian did her job as specialist on parallel bars, the USA team’s weakest event sticking her full twisting double back dismount for 15.933. Starting strong is no small thing as shown by the US men in the team final when it had mistakes on the first two routines.
There was a remarkable consistency in the gold-medal effort.
The dominance on breathtaking display in all four disciplines was comparable to a 100-50 basketball score, making these gymnasts the petite version of the U.S. Dream Team.
The competition was suspenseful until the second rotation.
The competition was devoid of suspense as the Americans opened a lead that grew and grew through vault, parallel bars, balance beam and floor exercise. Hernandez wowed the crowd with her catchy and appealing routine, scoring 14.833. With Hernandez, their youngest member, leading off with a Yurchenko double full, all three USA vaulters earned execution marks of 9.300 or higher.
The lasting image was a powerful airborne display by Biles, who received a standing ovation.
Coach Aimee Boorman said Biles was more nervous Tuesday than during Sunday’s qualification round. “I think we were all so excited to win that we couldn’t cry”.
“They’re not nervous at meets because they know they did it thousands of times to build consistency”, Karolyi said of her formula.
The routine received a 15.800 and Karolyi, not given to hyperbole, said: “I think her tumbling was sky high today. People think I do it on goal, but I don’t”.
She has dominated women’s gymnastics over the past three years after winning 10 world titles and is looking to add to her haul in the all-around, floor, beam and vault finals in Rio. In 2012, the nickname was Fierce Five. The “Final Five” team is leaving their legacy as best team in the history of the sport.
The golden girls dubbed themselves “The Final Five” in honor of Karolyi’s retirement at the end of the Olympics and the fact that the format is changing for Tokyo in 2020 so that only four team members will take part in the team competition.
She expects more new gymnasts coming in this week. “Once I master like being more aggressive than I already am, then nothing’s impossible”, she said.
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“It’s really fantastic. It hasn’t sunk in at all yet”, Raisman said.
