On Sunday, the U.S. gymnastic team proved itself to be far too good for its competition. With an advantage of 10 points, the U.S. young women finished with 185.238 points, leaving China in the second place with 175.279 points. And all the team members qualified for at least one apparatus final.
Simone Biles is the brightest star of the team. She reached the highest scores on floor, vault, and beam, 3 of the four apparatus in the competition. Biles did not get a top score on the uneven bars, but her teammate Madison Kocian did. Uneven bars is her signature.
All team members are stars, and they get to be in either the all-around or the finals of an event. But that is not all. The team is on fire and Biles, and Aly Raisman qualified for both the all-around and the finals.
The American team won the top 3 scores regarding individual marks: Biles, Raisman, and Gabby Douglas won the highest points. Unfortunately, Douglas will not participate in the individual all-around due to the Olympics rules.
Under Olympic rules, a nation may qualify no more than two gymnasts for the individual finals and the all-around, and because Biles and Raisman finished ahead of Douglas, she will not be able to defend her title in the all-around. The scores were: Biles 62.366, Raisman 60.601, and Douglas 60.131.
Despite the situation, Douglas said she was still rejoicing and stated that she is not ashamed. She said she is very pleased with everything.
At the end of Sunday’s competitions, the U.S. gymnasts finished with 185.238 points in the first place. In the second place was China, with 175.279, and Russia in the third place, with 174.640.
The level of competition in gymnastics has fallen in Rio 2016 Olympics Games. Russian gymnasts have suffered hard injuries, Romania and its tradition of being on the podium since 1976 has been forgotten, and China, its team have been inconsistent, with good days and bad, says USA Today.
Russian athlete Aliya Mustafina said that is going to be difficult to compete against the U.S. in gymnastics. She stated that the team is unbeatable at the moment. Which means Russia and China will be competing for the silver medals.
Karolyi is retiring after Rio 2016. Her girls have given her the best farewell present of all
The U.S. gymnastics team won gold in London’s Olympic Games and after Sunday’s performance, there is no doubt that the U.S. team will repeat gold in Rio. A perfect retirement present for the U.S. national team director Martha Karolyi.
Karolyi has taught the girls that they are not competing against other countries; they are competing with themselves, and the goal is perfection.
But the Americans are not perfect, and they did have some flaws. Biles took a small hop on the landing of her first vault, and Raisman had a wobble on the balance beam. Douglas stepped out of bounds when she positioned for a tumbling run, and Laurie Hernandez had to windmill her arms to hold her vault landing, USA Today reports.
According to the Washington Post, Karolyi told the U.S. gymnasts that she loved them before Sunday’s performances. And after the outstanding results, Karolyi said she loved them even more.
Source: USA Today