It was their third gold after winning a first in Atlanta 1996.
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Behind Gabby Douglas, Laurie Hernandez, Aly Raisman, Madison Kocian and their anchor Simone Biles, the world’s best gymnast, the American women more than delivered on expectations, defeating Russian Federation, the silver medalists, by a staggering 8 points.
It was all part of their strategy, Raisman explained in a pre-Olympic interview. “We just need a few more years and I feel like we’re up there”, she said. “So we should carry ourselves that way, not be scared and shaky because we have that pressure”.
“They were not only physically prepared, but mentally prepared, and that’s a nice place to be because you don’t have to snap anybody into place”, US Olympic coach Aimee Boorman said, according to the USA Gymnastics website.
All eyes – those in Rio and around the world – were on the American team as they entered the final event. Each U.S. gymnast has made an event final, and the Americans have two in each event except for vault where Biles is the only one who tried to qualify.
After hurtling down the runway, Simone Biles’ body becomes completely calm the second she hits the air on her vault. Gabby Douglas had a strong performance for her solo event on the uneven bars, only bested by teammate Kocian who had a 15.933 (uneven bars are Kocian’s specialty).
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.
Simone Biles competes on the floor in the artistic gymnastics women’s team final at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Rio Olympic Arena on August 9, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro.
To round it off, the team went into their final rotation with five points ahead of their opponents, and took the win with some stupendous floor exercises.
In a sport where tenths of a point can mean the difference between a gold and no medal at all, their winning margin of 8.209 points was a blowout. However Ledecky remained undefeated in individual major global event finals in her career, holding off a hard-charging Sjostrom down the stretch to win the gold medal.
KOSOVO FIRST: Majlinda Kelmendi won Kosovo’s first Olympic medal, taking gold in the women’s 52-kilogram judo division.
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After the score was announced, the women huddled together and cheered in unison, “We are the Final Five!”. She said afterwards that “The Final Five”, as the athletes dubbed their squad in her honor, was the greatest of all time. In Tokyo, each team will have only four members. But when you hold Rio up to the last Summer Olympics or, worse for NBC, numbers promised to advertisers, these Games are coming up short. The team, led by captain Aly Raisman, also revealed its new name: the Final Five. “I think at this moment we can say that the United States dominates the world in gymnastics”, says Karolyi.
