Gabby Douglas, Simone Biles and the rest of the American women’s gymnastics team were flawless during the all-around team event on August 9.
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There were a few wobbles here and there, even for Simone Biles, but those imperfections could not stop the United States from blowing away the opposition to capture the Olympic women’s team title with a record margin on Tuesday.
This team of Simone Biles, Gabby Douglas, Aly Raisman, Laurie Hernandez and Madison Kocian – a group that led every event in qualifying – kept the Americans far ahead of Russian Federation in second and China third.
Brazil’s first gold medal has boosted Olympic ticket sales and organisers expect attendances to pick up in coming days, although some venues including the Copacabana beach volleyball arena are still struggling to fill seats. The Americans’ only other team medal is from 1996 in Atlanta.
A team gold would also put Biles on the road to the record haul of five gold medals the 19-year-old covets in Rio.
Fragapane, the four-time Commonwealth champion, described her as “incredible”, while Rebecca Downie said she was “on another level”. Next up was uneven bars, where Kocian and Douglas earned two of the highest uneven bars scores of the day.
All eyes – those in Rio and around the world – were on the American team as they entered the final event. “She is the best”, the brother said.
Simone Biles is a household name in the U.S.
At 4 feet 8, Biles isn’t ideally suited to the uneven bars, but she was solid.
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A fall from Elissa Downie on the beam proved costly for Britain, though, as they dropped back to fifth at the halfway point. Raisman and Biles did the exceedingly hard Amanar and were rewarded for terrific delivery. All three Americans wobbled and swayed at one point, but all three quickly reclaimed their poise to stay on and finish strong. Hernandez went first. The crowd loved her music; they loved her, as she pranced and danced about with the frivolity of a child showing off in the backyard, peppering the routine with impressive tumbling. They didn’t even need a great performance to win Tuesday.
