Simone Biles got her bid for a record five gold medals at the Rio Olympics off to a flying start as the United States women coasted to a team gymnastics title defence on Tuesday.
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Still there was history to be made in Rio on Tuesday as Douglas and team mate Aly Raisman became the first Americans to win back-to-back Olympic team titles, and that, the 21-year-old said, was something to cheer about. It was the largest margin of victory in an Olympic women’s team final since the Soviet Union – remember when we used to call it that? This is the team’s second consecutive Olympics triumph.
US gymnasts, left to right, Simone Biles, Gabrielle Douglas, Lauren Hernandez, Madison Kocian and Aly Raisman hold their gold medals during the medal ceremony for the artistic gymnastics women’s team at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2016.
“We’re going in as the best team in the world”, Raisman said before the games began.
“I haven’t found the word for this yet”, said Simone Biles, her eyes wide, her medal huge. After a small stumble by Raisman on the balance beam, the team quickly recovered with strong performances on the beam by Hernandez and Biles.
Cue the Final Five!
Hernandez revealed why the group had opted for the nickname “Final Five” as opposed to the “Feirce Five” of four years ago.
Biles produced the best vault, beam and floor routines of the competition as the U.S. led from start to finish, finally winning by a huge margin of more than eight points.
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. Kocian also killed her routine, flipping her way to a 15.933, the highest score of the Games so far according to commentators.
Ledecky strode atop the medal podium again with a bright smile after taking gold for winning the 200-meter freestyle. I mean Russian Federation did end up winning the silver, and China took the bronze. Biles’ specialty is the floor exercise and she puts a lot of her personality into that.
“I never meant any disrespect and apologize if I offended anyone”, the 20-year-old gymnast wrote. They qualified in first by almost 10 points.
China’s Mao Yi slipped off the mat on the floor routine, ending the 2008 champions’ challenge for silver, after Shang Chunsong had earlier tumbled off uneven bars.
“I don’t think we could have been any more ready”.
Their predecessors may have been “fierce”, but the five American women who dazzled their way to gymnastics gold on Tuesday attributed their success to focus, as much as anything.
The teenager from Columbus, Ohio, was raised by her grandfather and his wife – to her they are mum and dad – due to her biological mother’s drug and alcohol addiction.
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Douglas and Raisman each claimed their third Olympic gold medals following double success at London 2012.
