clear of silver medalist Russia and nearly 9 more than bronze medalist China while winning its second straight Olympic title and third overall, a margin greater than the one that propelled the “Fierce Five” to victory in London four years ago.
So much for the pressure of being the heavy favorite. The only real mystery surrounded what nickname the team would settle on before Biles stumbled upon it during a group text.
The group — Biles, Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas, Madison Kocian and Laurie Hernandez — dubbed themselves “The Final Five” as a nod to Karolyi.
“It’s perfect,” Biles said. “It’s Martha’s last year. We wanted it to be meaningful.”
Biles admitted there were nerves before Sunday’s preliminaries, though it hardly looked like it while the Americans posted the highest score by more than nine points. The only moment of tension on Tuesday came early. When Hernandez was introduced to the crowd, Raisman nudged her and told her to wave, which the 16-year-old did with a toothy smile.
Barely five minutes later, the youngest member of Team USA was all business. Her double-twisting Yurchenko vault — basically a roundoff onto the block followed by a pair of twists — put the machine in motion. Raisman, who won three medals in London four years ago and seemed to be on the outside looking in as recently as this spring, followed with perhaps the finest vault of her long career. When Biles drilled her Amanar and put up a 15.933 — tied for highest of the night — the U.S. was already on top of the leader board and everyone else was playing for second.
It’s a fate the rest of the field seemed to accept. Russian star Aliya Mustafina admitted before the competition the Americans were “unbeatable.” China’s Shang Chunsong said her team “aimed for the silver medal,” a position the Chinese seemed to have in hand until stumbling on the final rotation.
The top spot was never in doubt. The U.S. hasn’t lost a major international competition since 2010 and there appears to be no end in sight to their run even though Karolyi and her husband Bela are selling the training facility on their Texas ranch to USA Gymnastics later this month.
Karolyi joked she’s going to have to be a “normal person” in retirement and plans to poke her head in occasionally to “see if they are going in the right direction.”
At the moment, that direction is up. Way up thanks in part to the semi-centralized system Karolyi installed. Team members and coaches visit the ranch regularly, where they receive specialized instructions. No detail is overlooked.