They earned the highest team qualifying score, 185.238, by almost 10 points.
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Simone Biles showed the world why she is an Olympic champion-in-waiting as she and her American team mates blew away the opposition by nearly 10 points in women’s gymnastics qualifying at the Rio Games on Sunday.
Aly Raisman is the elder statesman of the USA women’s gymnastics team.
The U.S. Women’s Gymnastics team gained the highest team qualifying score with 185.238. Individually, there’s an American on top of every event and the all-around. On balance beam, first-year senior Laurie Hernandez will have a chance to shine as she competes with the Americans’ three all-arounders – Biles, Douglas and Raisman.
“We hit 16 for 16”, said Aly Raisman, the 2012 Olympic floor exercise gold medalist. Teammate Aly Raisman was second, edging 2012 champion Gabby Douglas for the United States’ second spot in Thursday’s all-around final.
She took time off after her London success with Biles dominating women’s gymnastics in her absence. It was a tight race and Douglas was in third as she moved into the fourth and final rotation.
So it was up the all-around race to provide the drama: three of the US women were eligible, but only two would be allowed to advance due to the two-per-country rule.
The mini-drama during the qualifications was the battle between Douglas and Raisman for the second spot. Nor is winning two medals on every event except vault. However, Biles and Hernandez finished first and second. Raisman will also join Biles in the floor final. When Raisman drilled her dismount on beam, Douglas rose from her chair and gave her a hug.
They may be on “autopilot”, but they are not going to just do their routines at the Olympic gymnastics competition.
Raisman was in the all-around final with a 60.607 score. But they were allowed to enter only two teams in Rio.
Madison Kocian, 19, was selected for the American team primarily for her fantastic work on the uneven bars. Before that was a fifth place finish in 1936.
“In terms of Gabby Douglas and Kohei Uchimura, both are capable of winning gold medals in Rio, ” Latynina, whose record of winning 18 Olympic medals was surpassed by swimmer Michael Phelps four years ago, told Reuters. She’ll compete for a medal in the event on August 14 at 1:47 p.m. ET. It seems like she’s living by those same rules at the Olympics. Biles stuck her two vaults with just a tiny hop, averaging a 16.050 score. But there’s still some tremendous gymnastics done by women considered old for the sport.
Douglas was solid in all four events, but really sparkled on the uneven bars. Biles is also the most decorated American female gymnasts in World Championships history, with a total of fourteen medals, ten of them gold. Romania, the London bronze medallists, failed to qualify a team. She’s got two gold medals from that Olympics.
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Then there’s the wonder of Oksana Chusovitina of Uzbekistan.
