Courtesy of USA Today
The United States women’s gymnastics team is golden again!
And as the USA claims its fourth Olympic gold medal in the women’s team event, the silver and bronze medalists are just as iconic. Silver medal-winning Italy, who finished second in qualifications and rotated with the USA, won its first medal in the event for the first time in 96 years! Brazil, led by star Rebeca Andrade, claimed the bronze for its first team medal ever.
With the gold medal, Simone Biles is now the most decorated American gymnast ever! The GOAT, who didn’t hesitate to express her joy throughout all of her routines, has 8 Olympic medals and still has the chance to add 4 more with individual event finals still to come.
Biles, and the rest of the USA women’s gymnastics team, overcame so much adversity, personally and with national and media expectations, to complete their redemption tour.
Courtesy of USA Gymnastics
The United States started on vault, where Jordan Chiles kicked off the meet with an electric double-twisting Yurchenko. Jade Carey, on her only event of the meet, did her job beautifully with a clean Cheng. Simone Biles anchored with a Cheng of her own; she did not compete the Biles II but will drop jaws with it again in the individual all-around and vault final events. The USA was in first place with a 1.434 lead over China after the first rotation and would go on to lead for the entire competition.
Courtesy of Team USA and Getty Images
Chiles led off the USA again as they moved over to the uneven bars. She and Biles both had solid performances and smiled before their feet hit the ground on their dismounts! It’s refreshing to see women athletes not hesitate to show their emotions. Suni Lee got the nod to anchor the USA on bars, and while she didn’t compete her most difficult routine, it was beautiful nonetheless. The USA extended their lead, with Italy behind them by 3.102 points.
Courtesy of USA Gymnastics
The balance beam began with flashbacks to the 2008 silver medal-winning performance by the USA as Chiles fell off on her mount. The rest of her routine was flawless. Beam Queen Suni Lee followed with one of her best routines ever. Biles anchored, and as she dismounted, we all knew the USA won gold, with just their floor party to go.
Courtesy of USA Gymnastics
Violins began to play and Lee dazzled across the floor exercise with one of the most gorgeous routines in the whole competition. She was followed by Chiles, whose routine began by winking at the camera and concluded with happy tears. Jordan Chiles Is That Girl (and now an Olympic gold medalist!). In the most poetic way possible, the rest of the competition was complete, with only Simone Biles left to go on the floor exercise. She blew kisses to the crowd as she saluted, and smiled as she made her way over to hug her teammates.
The redemption tour was complete.
The USA was the favorite to win gold, after finishing 6 points ahead of the competition in qualifications, but it didn’t take away from the emotion viewers experienced watching as the team had fun and smiled while competing. The silver and bronze medalists, though, were anybody’s game. In the end, it was Italy’s team on the rise and Brazil finally putting all of their pieces together, winning medals.
For the first time in 16 years, both USA artistic gymnastics teams won an Olympic medal, as the men’s team won bronze.
Simone Biles and Suni Lee will make history as the first Olympic all-around champions to compete at the same time in the Olympic all-around final. They will also compete in the balance beam final. Biles and Jade Carey will compete in the vault final, Biles and Chiles will compete in the floor exercise final, and Lee will look to win another medal in the uneven bars final.
Edited By: Bailey Massey
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