“My brother was wearing American flag trousers, it was very hard to miss him”, she said. “I was ‘Oh, what’s happening to me?” Only after Biles’ score was posted one that served as an exclamation point on two hours of almost flawless gymnastics did the architect of a dynasty relax. GLAMSquad was discarded, along with Flawless Five and Fiercest Five and nearly any other adjective that begins with an F.
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After the score was announced, the women huddled together and cheered in unison, “We are the Final Five!”
A mantra that will live on long after Karolyi takes off her USA Gymnastics sweatsuit for the last time.
“Don’t take anything granted”, Karolyi said.
That wasn’t a competition late Tuesday afternoon into early evening at the gymnastics venue; it was a coronation, a powerful and artistic exhibition of greatness produced by five young American women who have earned a very special place in their sport’s history. There were a few wobbles here and there, even for Biles, but those imperfections did not stop them winning the title by a massive 8.209 points over second placed Russian Federation.
They swore they’d keep it a secret, like the best sisters do, until the time was right.
Not that they would have.
“Before we even got out on the floor Martha (Karolyi, the outgoing United States of America national team coordinator) told us: ‘Just do what you’ve been doing in the gym, you guys have been training so hard, all the repetitions are going to pay off.’ We did just that”.
We’ll update this post below, with news and analysis from the event – so if you want to avoid spoilers, look away now. Normally teams win by a point here, a decimal there, a tiny mistake here, a stumble there.
The outcome hasn’t seemed in doubt all week, and so far in today’s programs, the USA has turned in only one score that was below a 15 – a 14.800 earned by Simone Biles on the uneven bars.
Then there’s Madison Kocian and Laurie Hernandez, who is of Puerto Rican descent but also known as a “human emoji”. She delivered beautifully, getting great extension on a hard routine.
When it was all said and done, the Americans had the highest team score on all four events.
The team posted a total score of 184.897 across four events, averaging 15.408 per routine.
But not until their final three routines, with the Star Spangled Banner already cued up for the medals ceremony, did the Americans let loose. Karolyi said. “We’re not in the theater”. “But it’s better when you don’t and you have that magical moment of going 12 for 12”.
Biles is the heavy favorite for victory in Thursday’s individual all-round competition, which Douglas won in London, with Raisman also set to compete.
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One down, four to go for Biles.
