USA 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.
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“The Final Five”, Karolyi said, choking up just trying to say the words. Twitter reactions to USA women’s gymnastics winning gold, though, are worthy of their own medals. The ladies successfully defended their Olympic title, scoring a total of 184.897, easily surpassing their competition.
This year’s team includes 19-year-old Simone Biles, who is competing in her first Games, but is already considered by some to be the greatest female gymnast ever.
China won the bronze, 68-hundredths of a second back of Russian Federation. The U.S. women gymnastics team, rising far above competition and redefining the level of artistic gymnastics, have won gold at Rio.
U.S. superiority began on the very first apparatus, the vault, where Raisman and Biles each pulled-off the two-and-a-half twist with a blind landing to score 15.833 and 15.933 points respectively. Going in, the Americans were ranked No. 1 in everything – vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise. On the uneven bars – Madison Kocian and Gabby Douglas.
Meeting and then exceeding everyone’s highest expectations, the US women’s team won the gold medal for the all-around team competition on Tuesday.
A lot of gymnasts who win the gold medal say pretty much the same thing, but the fact of the matter is that it will never get old.
They were never going to slip up on the floor, traditionally the strongest event for the USA team. “I have to focus on what I want and that has to come from my heart”. “I like her personality”. She was so proud of us. But for as much success as the US has had under Karolyi – 88 medals so far under her watch – this team is in a class by itself.
The weight of expectation after leading qualifiers by over 10 points had only made them stronger, said Raisman, a gold medal victor in London.
While other teams bobbled and wobbled, stumbled and bumbled, the US women were a model of both precision and excellence.
Next up for Biles: the all-around competition on Thursday.
“She’s pushed us harder than anyone else, harder than our coaches”, said Biles. Aly Raisman. Gabby Douglas.
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When Raisman was losing her confidence after a subpar performance at the 2015 World Championships, Karolyi’s encouragement helped her recover it. Madison Kocian briefly rubbed the shoulders of teammate Laurie Hernandez. They’re the final team to compete under the guidance of legend Marta Karolyi. Together, the Karolyis have given the US 89 world or Olympic medals with many more to come this Olympics. Maggie Steffens, Courtney Mathewson and Kiley Neushul scored two goals apiece, and Ashleigh Johnson had 11 saves while becoming the first black woman to play water polo for the U.S.in the Olympics.
