USA gymnasts, left to right: Simone Biles, Gabrielle Douglas, Lauren Hernandez, Madison Kocian and Aly Raisman stand for the national anthem during the medal ceremony for the gymnastics women’s team at the Olympics in Rio. With a score of 184.897, they finished more than eight points ahead of second-place Russian Federation, a wide margin that solidified the Final Five as the true Dream Team of 2016.
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The sole agenda item: Come up with a nickname, something that would define them forever if they won team gold in Rio to take their place alongside the Magnificent Seven of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and the Fierce Five of the 2012 London Games. The US women’s gymnastics team, calling itself the Final Five, proved unflappable Tuesday, and landed the gold in a landslide victory.
The victorious five comprise Simone Biles, Gabby Douglas, Aly Raisman, Laurie Hernandez and Madison Kocian.
Led by Simone Biles, who competed on all four apparatuses, the USA posted the highest total scores on the each apparatus-even beating the normally-dominant Russians on their best event, the uneven bars.
On the podium basked the self-described “Final Five” proteges of the immigrant USA national team coordinator coach, Marta Karolyi – an exuberant, close-knit group that further reflected the tapestry that makes America what it is. According to them, they named their team after their coach Martha Karolyi who considered this year as her last. This is also the final team to be coordinated by Martha Karolyi before her upcoming retirement. The U.S. team total amassed second-place China by nearly 10 full points. “We just need to make it happen every time in any condition, it doesn’t matter how many Brazilians are yelling in the gym and screaming”.
“Without her”, Raisman said, “this wouldn’t be possible”.
The US team, who finished with the top marks in all four disciplines, scored 184.897 to win by an eye-popping 8.209 points. When she finished her Samba-flecked routine, the team’s 12th of the afternoon without a mistake – and 28th in a row counting Sunday’s qualification – her team-mates rushed the podium and the five embraced while chants of U-S-A! Starting in 2020 in Tokyo, each team will have four members. “To be at the biggest competition of my life, I think that’s such an fantastic thing because I feel like we went through it together”.
Simone Biles: Biles’ brother has been walking around Rio with a cutout of his sister’s face. Madison Kocian, the team’s uneven bars specialist, shone on the second rotation, getting a stellar 15.933 for her performance.
Raisman took the floor and finished a handsome routine with a 15.36, meaning that Simone Biles would need to score at least a 7.59 to earn the gold medal. We may never again see a team so daring, deep and determined. By the end of her performance, which received an impressive 15.800 score, the audience was on its feet. The girls still have the women’s individual all-around to do on Thursday. “This is the strongest team we ever had”, he said.
Next up will be the individual events.
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But Rio is not done with them yet.
