Gymnastics: US women on level of their own

Led by gymnastics/88061504/”>Simone Biles, the U.S. women posted the highest team qualifying score of 185.238 – almost ten points better than second place.

Biles needs only three Olympic gold medals to become the most decorated American gymnast of all time, and her coronation seems likely; she is the favorite to win gold in five of the six women’s gymnastics events in Rio.

China (175.279), Russian Federation (174.620), Great Britain (174.064), Brazil (174.054), Germany (173.263), Japan (172.564), and Netherlands (171.929) round out the other seven countries to qualify for Tuesday’s team final. Japan and Canada, the best teams in that final, could only cut into the lead. The U.S. stands to win a medal in every single event final, with at least one gymnast qualifying on vault, bars, beam and floor.

Raisman, a three-time Olympic medalist four years ago, grabbed the second spot in the individual all-around for the Americans by edging reigning Olympic champion Gabby Douglas thanks in part to what Raisman called “the best bar routine of my life”. She also was in position to claim one of the USA’s two qualifying spots in the individual all-around event, but she fell just short.

The top eight competitors on each apparatus will qualify for the event finals, with each country being limited to two competitors in any given final. In fact, if this were the all-around finals, the United States would sweep the podium. While Douglas performed beautifully, it just wasn’t enough to get this particular goal.

Nevertheless, Douglas looked dejected in the Rio Olympic Arena going into her final beam rotation knowing she had already lost her crown despite nailing all her routines.

And she has received high praise from another gymnastics icon: Mary Lou Retton, who was the first American to win all-around gold at the Olympics in 1984. Despite setting an American record in the event, the US quartet finished more than a second behind the Australians in London.

Biles has won the all-around in the last three world championships and the last four USA championships.

Biles will be joined by Raisman in the floor final with Laurie Hernandez in the balance beam final. I think London, you know, 2012, really put things into perspective.

With it, Biles sealed an American rout of Sunday’s qualifying sessions and bounced directly into the embrace of four adoring teammates.

Douglas’s teammates raved about her performance and lamented that she wouldn’t get a chance to compete for all-around gold. With one subdivision of qualification competition still left, Biles led the field with a mammoth floor score of 15.733; Raisman sat in second at 15.275.

Wang was lucky not to fall off the balance beam as she nearly lost her footing after a back somersault and her score of 14.100 was China’s lowest on the apparatus. Coach Martha Karolyi criticized the rule, saying that it allowed “lower level” participants in the finals but added that it forced her athletes to compete harder.