First went Hernandez, who delivered a sassy, joyful routine that had the audience clapping to the beat, giving a thumbs up as she left the floor. Ultimately, Russia earned silver with a combined score of 176.688, and China earned bronze with 176.003. The final streamed online at 3 p.m. EST, but if you want to watch all the action for yourself, it’ll air during primetime at 8 p.m. EST on NBC. Heads up: There are spoilers ahead!
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First, here’s a little primer on how the scores are determined.
This team is dynastic, and they’ll get to show off even more in the individual all-around on Thursday. Team Japan, whose male counterparts scored the gold in the men’s final yesterday, placed just out of the medals in fourth.
Here’s who was on deck for the four events from the USA squad.
There were some major moments in today’s events.
Dallas’ Kocian competed on the uneven bars, tying Russia’s Aliya Mustafina for a competition-best 15.933 points.
Kocian dominated the uneven bars with the highest score of 15.933 while Biles mastered the beam with an impressive 15.300. Even though both ladies were only in one event, their strong performances made a big difference for their team as a whole.
The team kept the nickname a secret until clinching gold, at which point they revealed it to the media and Karolyi, who cried when she heard the name. Karolyi told reporters the only other time she cried as a coach was when Nadia Comaneci won gold at the Montreal games in 1976.
They put in such a commanding performance that Biles needed to overhaul a target of just 7.591 with her final floor performance to secure her first Olympic medal. Team U.S.A. easily outscored the other competitors in every event (with a final score of 184.897), so much so that the real suspense came from the struggle for second place. Their score of 184.897 was more than eight points points clear of silver medalist Russian Federation, a blowout that Michael Jordan’s “Dream Team” should envy.
With Simone Biles’s lights-out floor exercise providing the final flourish to a competition in which they hit 12 of 12 routines, that time came Tuesday afternoon – shortly after the scoreboard confirmed they had won the Olympic team gold by a whopping eight-point margin over fierce rival China and just before they stepped up to the medal stand to receive the gold.
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There are many ways gymnasts can medal at the Olympic games in Rio. She will be joined by Raisman on the floor and Hernandez in the beam, while Douglas and Kocian will attempt to win medals in the bars.
