Team USA’s Simone Biles and Aly Raisman took home gold and silver today at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio. The pool’s chlorine has turned it into an unnatural shade of green.
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Earlier this week the team took home gold for the Women’s Team All-Around.
Biles led a U.S. 1-2 in the Rio Olympic Arena ahead of Aly Raisman with Russia’s Aliya Mustafina taking her second straight Games all-around bronze. The American led by 1.533 going into the final floor rotation on which she is the reigning three-time world champion.The Russian scored low to allow Raisman, the Olympic floor champion, to pull ahead with a flawless routine, finishing in tears after four near-flawless routines.
Tearful teammates then clutched each other as they waited for the scores – Biles scoring highest (15.933) after also topping the vault and the beam. With only Biles left to compete, Raisman knew she had clinched second place and was overcome by a collision of emotions – relief, exhaustion, gratitude and triumph – after missing an all-around bronze by a tiebreaker in 2012 and refusing to retire, battling on well past the age most female gymnasts move on.
Russia, which wasn’t sure it would even be included in the games until just days before the opening ceremonies as the International Olympic Committee and sport federations sorted out punishments for a national doping scandal, won silver. Mustafina came out a hair higher, leaving Raisman in fourth.
The team gold for the American women on Tuesday, combined with Thursday’s performance, was powerful proof of US dominance in the sport.
Raisman rose to the podium alongside compatriot and gold medal victor Simone Biles and bronze medalist Aliya Mustafina, the Russian rival that had prevailed in the tiebreak for the bronze in London. Add another handful of medals four years from now in Tokyo and she will be in rarified territory.
Phelps, meanwhile, was chasing his 26th medal and his 22nd gold.
“I’ve been in five all-around finals, and each time I’ve been sucked off the podium due to mistakes”, Raisman said Thursday.
Between them, they have the 13 fastest times in the men’s 200-meter individual medley.
But this time there would be no stopping her.
While Biles in 2016 and Gabby Douglas in 2012 became America’s Olympic darlings, Raisman has been the anchor of both squads.
“A lot of people have said she won’t be the greatest until she wins the Olympic all-around”, Boorman said.
She credits her current coach, Jimmy Pedro, with helping her emotionally and as a judoka. There are only so many gold medals handed out in her sport and careers in gymnastics are usually limited to one Olympics, perhaps two at best.
The first one was for the team.
“I think this is probably one of the best rounds of golf I’ve ever played”, Fraser told the Golf Channel.
Russia’s Aliya Mustafina took a distant bronze.
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Standing just 1.45m (4ft 9ins) the bubbly Texan with the big smile threw down the gauntlet with a nerveless performance two days after helping the United States women to a second straight team gold in her first Olympics. Those really stand out for me.
