USA women’s gymnastics team romps to gold in Rio

The American women have been the top gymnasts in the world for six years. When there were more members on a squad than just five.

According to the International Federation of Gymnastics’ website, female gymnasts must be 16 at the time of competition due to the fact that “high level gymnastics practised too early on can be hazardous to the health of a gymnast”.

Scoring 15.633 to qualify first on the balance beam, U.S.’ Simone wow-ed the crowd in the qualification round and resulted in a standing ovation.

The finals for the Olympics 2016 artistic gymnastics team event will be on Tuesday, August 9, at 3:00 pm ET while the finals for the uneven bars will be on Monday, August 14, at 3:21 pm ET.

So while the gold medal they won on Tuesday at Rio Olympic Arena was not surprising, it was historic. The team had an impressive 5-point lead ahead of the Russians heading into the final rotation, leading many to wonder if this team of women is the most dominant gymnastics team of all time.

Because the USA women’s team is so dominant this year, all five athletes could have earned a spot in the all-around finals if not for the rule.

Women’s Individual All-Around Final, Thursday, August 11 at 4:00p.m.

They finished with a team total of 8.209 points. She was edged by less than a half a point.

And Madison Kocian will compete on bars, where she is a world champion. The best of the field no matter their country should advance. I’m sorry to Italy or Poland or whatever country that didn’t have the better gymnast and therefore didn’t get to perform on an global stage. Go have a cookie.

The Americans pointed to higher start values for Japan and China, perennial powers in the sport, as well as the size of the pool of gymnasts and centralized training. (Go Cathy Rigby!) But that’s what dominance is.

Before the Fierce Five dominated the 2012 London Olympics, China’s team won the team all-around competition in Beijing at the previous 2008 Olympics. “We had a better outcome in mind, but that just didn’t quite happen today”. But you never know.

Though the 22-year-old had one big wobble, the rest of her beam routine was nearly flawless, including her super hard double Arabian front dismount.