It wasn’t in doubt in London.
Advertisement
The team and star Marta have drawn more attention while Brazil’s men have struggled at the Olympics. But for a team that finished an unlucky fourth in London, any medal is a good medal.
The team, headlined by Simone Biles, crushed the competition, winning by an 8-point gap with Russian Federation trailing in second place. That was more than double the gap between silver and last place.
Women’s Team Finals medal standings. The margin of victory is the biggest since at least 1972.
ON THE PITCH: Catalina Usme beat US goalie Hope Solo on a pair of free kicks to draw Colombia to a 2-2 tie with the United States. They’ll get Wednesday morning off, then it’s back to work.
It was little wonder that her teammates already were hugging and whooping for joy even before she had begun her hip-swinging routine to the beats of Samba music.
In a recent interview with Us Magazine, she revealed that she carried a white rosary in her gym bag.
“We had a lot of pressure coming in but I think we handled it pretty well”, said Raisman.
“It’s flawless”, Biles said.
“Don’t take anything granted”, Karolyi said.
While greater glory surely awaits for the Texan, most of her team-mates will have likely reached their peaks on Tuesday simply because they will have to contend with Biles herself going forward. The only moment of tension on Tuesday came early. Raisman and Biles each nailed an Amanar, which is one of the toughest vaults being done today. Aly Raisman and Laurie Hernandez each competed on the vault, balance beam, and floor, and Madison Kocian and Gabby Douglas performed two almost flawless routines on the uneven bars. Hernandez will compete in the balance beam final, Raisman will also compete in the floor exercise final, and Kocian and Douglas will each be in the uneven bars final. And on the floor exercise with Simon Biles – Aly Raisman.
America’s excellence and down cycles for Asian and European teams mean an unprecedented era in the sport.
“We are the Final Five!”. Unlike the other seven, the Americans didn’t slip off uneven bars.
This is their second consecutive Olympic gold with world championship titles in 2011, 2014, and 2015.
SHAPIRO: And many opportunities yet ahead to medal. Also on vault were Aly Raisman who earned a 15.833 and Simone Biles who earned a 15.933 for one of the best overall scores of the night.
“Our expectations there are very high”, said Mihai Brestyan, Raisman’s coach.
Gabby Douglas: “You just look up and they just say, ‘You can do it, ‘ and you’re just like, ‘OK, I can do it'”.
The gymnasts were too.
Advertisement
The race never got closer than that the rest of the way.
