Douglas and Raisman made some history of their own.
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It was also a moment of history for Biles’ teammates Aly Raisman and Gabrielle Douglas who became the first USA women to win three Olympic gold medals. But the Final Five, as the team has named itself since future Olympic gymnastics teams will only have four members, lived up to the hype.
The reality is that gold medal-winning skier Lindsay Vonn, who’s shown in a amusing commercial failing miserably in an effort to become a Summer Games athlete, probably could have done well enough on the floor for the Americans to win. The U.S., which took gold in the 4×100-meter free, holds the world and Olympic records in the 200.
After already adding to their standout records, Americans Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky are back in the pool for even more.
“Martha does that to us”, Douglas said.
Simply put, a winning margin of 8.2 is remarkable. They did it by winning every discipline, finishing it off when Biles bounded to a finish in the floor exercise that by then had been rendered meaningless.
They did it for themselves and they did it for their country.
But they also did it for each other, for the long hours spent training and living together as they were molded into an Olympic team to behold.
“It’s flawless”, Biles said. “The pride we show on the floor is really genuine”.
“It’s awesome to be out there and to experience this with these wonderful girls”, said Douglas, who competed on just one apparatus – the uneven bars. They were part of the Fierce Five that won gold in London.
“It’s everything and more than I’d hoped it to be”, said Biles, 19, who was too young to compete in London 2012. “Going out there and competing with these fantastic girls and standing on that podium, it feels the same”.
A breathtaking display, met by roars of delight from the flag-waving American fans in the crowd, resulted in a score of 15.800 as she was embraced by her team-mates, the gold secure.
With two consecutive Olympic golds and world championships titles in 2011, 2014 and 2015, the USA women have made a seemingly unbreakable habit of winning.
They finished with a team total of 8.209 points. She was disappointed to not be needed in Rio when the lineup became official for Sunday’s preliminaries, but she also realized she had done everything she could to make the 2016 Olympics, including waiting a year to enroll at Utah.
One down, four to go for Biles.
“I know it means the world to her. she was just so excited at the end. she started crying, it was so cute”, three-times world all-around champion Biles told reporters as she flashed a megawatt smile.
“I still feel a little sad because we made two big mistakes”, said Shang. “The moment we all woke up we were so happy and so excited”. “We want to do the very best all the time”.
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They duly delivered in style.
