While Team USA had a day for the books, the luck of other competitors was not so strong. Here’s some of the takeaways from the second full day of Olympic gymnastics.
Advertisement
It could be just as easy and accurate to call the United States of America men’s gymnastics squad Team Oklahoma, given that three members of the five-man US team plus the head coach all have ties to the University of Oklahoma. Shi Tingmao and Wu totaled 345.60 points to win the women’s 3-meter synchronized title Sunday in the first diving event of the Rio de Janeiro Games at the Maria Lenk Aquatic Center.
The other teams that qualified for the team final are Russian Federation (174.620), Great Britain (174.064), Brazil (174.054), Germany (173.263), Japan (172.564) and the Netherlands (171.929). “These girls showed us how to get it done in #Atlanta1996 and we hope to follow in their footsteps in #Rio2016”.
Biles tells NBC Sports that these words of encouragement started back in 2013 when she made the Worlds Championship team. She had more than a point on the fourth-place finisher, Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade. In addition to Douglas, Kocian was the top qualifier to the uneven bar final, Raisman earned a spot in the floor exercise final, and Hernandez will be in the beam final.
Simone Biles Gabby Douglas, Aly Raisman, Madison Kocian and Laurie Hernandez make up the American team. Biles could crack and fall off the beam, or she could step out of bounds on the floor, leaving an opening for her teammates to overtake her. Douglas might have turned in an fantastic come-from-behind performance. As the most prestigious prize in gymnastics, which only one person can win every four years, it is already elusive enough.
Following qualifying at the Rio Olympic Arena on Sunday, it’s Simone Biles and Aly Raisman who will advance to the all-around after the Americans’ jaw-dropping rout to advance to the team final.
With Team USA cruising to the team finals, the drama was found during the women’s individual all-around competition.
The top eight teams in qualifying move on to Tuesday’s team final, where the U.S.is expected to repeat the gold it won easily in London and give it to Karolyi as a retirement present.
Raisman and Douglas are the only holdovers from the London team, although with Raisman it’s not always apparent she’s a veteran. Biles is the gold-medal favorite in five of six events.
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.
Advertisement
It would have been easy to do it, but Gabby Douglas didn’t blame the two-per-country rule that will keep her from defending her Olympic all-around gold. Aiko Sugihara of Japan finished 19th all-around, but two teammates finished ninth and 12th. She and Douglas were separated by less than half a point for second place headed into the balance beam on the final rotation.
