The Olympics!’ ” Biles recalled thinking when she went to bed Saturday night in the Olympic Village.
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The U.S. women’s gymnastics team, led by Simone Biles, solidified Olympic gold-medal expectations by dominating Sunday’s qualifying round and finishing almost 10 points ahead of China.
The three-time all-around champion was too young to compete in London but since has won a record ten world titles and now just needs an Olympic gold to put her name among the legends. Few who saw Biles on Sunday would disagree.
Biles – going for her first Olympic gold, and mainstream stardom – had an all-around score of 62.366.
So while the gold medal they won on Tuesday at Rio Olympic Arena was not surprising, it was historic.
Because each country can have only two gymnasts in the all-around final, Raisman or Douglas would have been the odd-one out.
The U.S. Women’s Gymnastics team gained the highest team qualifying score with 185.238.
Olympic rules limit to two the number of gymnasts from any one country who can advance to the all around final.
Douglas, 20, put on a what observers and pundits characterized as a fabulous performance, earning a score of 60.131, the third best score of all countries competing, but still won’t be seeing the August 11 finals in Rio.
National team coordinator Marta Karolyi selected her for the U.S. Olympic team anyway, expressing confidence that she would shine in Rio. Raisman, a three-time medalist four years ago, grabbed the second spot for the Americans by edging Douglas thanks in part to what Raisman called “the best bar routine of my life”.
“I just wanted to go out there and just really hit the best beam that I could”. She and Douglas were separated by less than half a point for second place headed into the balance beam on the final rotation.
Douglas led off, finishing with a 14.833 score for 60.131 total points.
Though undoubtedly disappointed, Douglas was one of the the first to hug Raisman when she descended from the podium after her beam routine. And then she had to sit and wait to see what Raisman would do. But I’m sure it stings she’ll never get a shot.
Back in 2012, she found herself on the wrong side of a tie breaking procedure in the all-around final. Sunday’s next highest all-around score was 58.732 by Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade.
“Besides the little thing on beam it was the best meet I’ve ever had”, Raisman said. “The best five should be able to compete”.
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This is an exact reversal of what happened during the 2015 World Championships, when Raisman was knocked out of the final when she finished fifth, behind Biles (first) and Douglas (third) in qualification.
