During the event, America virtually crushed all competition as the talented team performed up to and in some instances, exceeded expectations in every category. Douglas came in third for US with 14.833.
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On Sunday she averaged 15.966 points across her two vault attempts to earn gold.
For Raisman, claiming silver with a total of 60.098 meant redemption after she suffered a gut-wrenching disappointment to miss out on the bronze four years ago to Russia’s Aliya Mustafina on the tiebreak rule.
FIRST TIME EVER: Team USA’s Simone Manuel won the 100-meter freestyle in 52.70 to become the first African-American woman to earn a medal in an individual event in swimming in the Summer Olympics.
“Hey, Simone, you did it”, Lauren Hernandez said to US teammate and Olympic Village roommate Simone Biles the morning after Biles won the Olympic all-around title. On Sunday, Biles added to her personal gold medal count, and the overall United States’ medal count, with a win in the vault finals.
The star of the USA women’s gymnastics team won Individual all-around gold this week as she helped the U.S.to team gold.
She waited patiently for her final scores to be posted, clutching her teammate and fellow competitor Aly Raisman as they watched the big board. “It’s so exciting”, Biles said at her medal ceremony. By age 14, she had made her mark as an elite junior gymnast, finishing third in the all-around American Classic.
“It doesn’t even feel real”, Biles said.
Biles’ new vault is called the Amanar, and it starts with a roundoff back handspring onto the springboard, followed by two and a half twists in the air with her body straight.
After their one-two finish Thursday, Raisman and Biles, 19, walked around the Rio Olympic Arena, as if they were one.
“As soon as I woke up yesterday, I walked into Aly’s room and said, ‘I have a really good feeling about today, ‘ ” said the gold medalist.
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But efforts to draw comparisons between her and other world stars were swiftly played down by the teenager despite her celebrity status.
