Gabby Douglas won’t get a chance to defend all-around title

Raisman left that competition with nothing, and even though she would win a gold medal on floor a few days later, losing out on an all-around medal is what drove her back to competition.

Then the woman who had remained stoic throughout the previous two hours as she showcased her jaw-dropping skills across four apparatus, finally let her guard down and burst into tears.

For her, that was enough. So you never can think I am done. “I have no regrets”. For me, the first Olympic champion and the last Olympic champion they are together.

Douglas was attempting to become the first repeat all-around victor in almost 50 years. Yet she’s always had a knack for putting adversity behind her when it mattered, and when national team director Martha Karolyi rewarded her with a spot on the five-woman team, she immediately responded.

Phelps notably became only the third Olympic athlete to win four straight titles in the same individual event after fellow Americans Al Oerter in the discus (1956-68) and Carl Lewis in the long jump (1984-96), once again transcending his sport. Meanwhile, Raisman, who didn’t score that well on bars (14.166), was still trying to make up the ground she lost. Asked how she maintained her focus despite the distractions of 10,000 athletes and hundreds of thousands of fans, the Virginia Beach native said, “You kind of just stay in your own bubble”.

She completed the beam without a hitch before watching Raisman do the same.

The American was too young to compete at the 2012 Olympics, but she was a senior at the start of the current Olympic cycle in 2013.

A little later at the Olympic Shooting Centre, German shooting Barbara Engleder fell to her knees and screamed with delight as she celebrated gold in what will be remembered as one of the enduring images of the Olympics.

After her win, Manuel shared a sentiment that came unscripted, straight from the heart, yet could not have delivered a more ideal message.

The win makes the United States the first country ever to claim four consecutive golds in the event, after also winning in 2004, 2008 and 2012. And at only 19 years old, it’s likely she will only get better!

“A lot of people have said she won’t be the greatest until she wins the Olympic all-around”, Boorman said.

“I wanted to see how far I could go in this sport”, she said.

‘She’s worked so incredibly hard during her comeback. So, I just stay out of it. “I wasn’t concerned with anything else”. Past year she became the first woman to win a “three-peat” of all-around golds at the worlds. The top 24 finishers advance to the all-around finals and the American team is so dominant that if not for the rule the entire five-person team would probably advance. “I wish that they would change it but I don’t think that they ever will”, Raisman said.

On day six in Rio, Fiji’s rugby sevens team etched themselves into the history books, gymnastics star Simone Biles clinched her second gold and Michael Phelps reached 22 gold medals. “I knew going into tonight I was going to get the silver medal because I was going to hit four events”. Perhaps that’s part of the reason why Douglas took Sunday’s setback so well.

“I’ve been able to come back and I’ve been able to accomplish things that I’ve just dreamt of”.