With the two most recent Olympic all-around champions, Simone Biles and Suni Lee, taking first and third places in the heats and Jade Carey taking fourth place, Team USA is the favorite heading into the women’s team final. After finishing with silver in Tokyo, Team USA is looking to return to the top of the medal list, having won in London in 2012 and Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
In fact, the U.S. team has not missed the podium in the women’s team gymnastics competition since 1988. Biles and Lee, seeking to become the first women since 1968 to win two Olympic gold medals in the all-around, will be the core of the team along with Carey, Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Jordan Chiles and Olympic newcomer Hesly Rivera.
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Now it’s time for Simone Biles to take the stage. The U.S. team needs 10 more points to overtake Italy and win the gold medal, something Biles is comfortable doing.
Here comes Jordan Childs. She really seems to be doing what she does best on floor. Childs nails her big air and puts on a great routine. She and her parents in the audience were overwhelmed with emotion after her performance. She received a high score of 13.966.
Suni Lee led the way for the USA on floor exercise, landing some big tumbling passes to get off to a strong start with a score of 13.533.
Despite Chiles’ struggles on the balance beam, the U.S. team was in good position heading into the floor exercise with a triple-jump score of 129.131 points. Italy came in second, three points behind, and Great Britain slipped into third, one point behind Italy.
Brazilian Rebeca Andrade, currently second in the all-around, had a spectacular performance on floor exercise. She is easily compared to Biles in aerials and artistry, and continues to perform well today.
Biles competed on the balance beam, one of her specialties, where the Tokyo bronze medalist was in grave danger for a moment while standing on the beam on her toes, but she managed to land and finish the slalom with an impressive score of 14.366.
Suni Lee brought the USA back to life with a great performance on balance beam. Her aerial passes were powerful and her landings were solid. She looked especially pleased with herself after her performance. Biles still has to compete on the balance beam, but Lee’s 14.600 gave the USA some momentum.
Jordan Chiles started again for the U.S. in the third rotation, and after a fall on the balance beam, she landed a solid finish and made the stick. Her score of 12.733 will count towards her total, so it’s a blow for the U.S., but they have room to bounce back and maintain their lead.
Team USA continues to hold the lead with 87.432 points after two rotations. Italy and China hold the next two places, with Italy finishing more than three points behind the Americans in second place.
Suni Lee remained strong in her specialty and landed well, and although she made a small mistake midway through, scraping her foot on the ground, the difficulty of the routine enhanced her performance, earning her 14.566 points, still the highest score for the U.S. team.
Technically speaking, Simone Biles’ weakest event is the uneven bars, but that doesn’t really matter. She performed well and landed well. She earned 14.400 points and kept the U.S. in first place. Suni Lee is still scheduled to compete.
Many celebrities were in attendance at the women’s gymnastics final, with Natalie Portman, Serena Williams and Spike Lee among those cheering on the US team.
Jordan Childs led the U.S. on bars with a strong performance, landing nearly all of her points, and was thrilled after the show, when Childs (and her parents in the stands) earned a score of 14.366 for her efforts.
Suni Lee fell off the balance beam while warming up, but quickly got back up. Laurie Hernandez, who led the U.S. team to a gold medal at the Rio Olympics, appeared on NBC’s microphone today and assured her there was nothing to worry about. “It’s just a warm-up,” she said.
Biles opted not to attempt her signature 6.4 Yurchenko double pike on the vault today, but choosing not to perform the move known as the Biles II is not expected to affect the U.S.’s medal chances today.
The U.S. team topped the standings with 44.100 points after one rotation, followed by China and Italy with 42.666 and 41.665 points respectively.
Brazil’s Flavia Saraiva, who fell on the horizontal bar while warming up, is moving forward despite a cut on her face caused by her knee in the fall. She performed a solid routine on the horizontal bar with her right eyebrow bandaged and appears healthy enough to continue competing.
Biles’ husband, NFL player Jonathan Owens, is in Paris supporting his wife in a cool Biles-inspired shirt after getting special permission from the Chicago Bears to miss practice to support Biles.
Simone Biles completed her vault with ease and showed off her aerial skills. Biles, who withdrew from the competition in Tokyo, earned herself a great score of 14.900. It was a great start for the U.S. team.
Jade Carey, competing in her only competition of the day, landed a perfect vault, bouncing a little on the landing but otherwise performing beautifully. She earned herself a score of 14.800 with a perfect score of 9.200. Carey’s stellar performance put the U.S. into an early points lead.
Brazil’s Flavia Saraiva took a hard fall on the uneven bars while warming up and was down for a while. She’s now up and lying down receiving treatment at her side, but it’s unclear if this will affect her ability to compete. Brazil is one of the main rivals for the US today, so it’s one to watch.
