Bryan Armen Graham was lucky enough to be there to witness greatness. Here’s his report.
Thanks for following along today. See you tomorrow for some soccer.
The other medalists …
Italy simply didn’t make mistakes. Through two rotations, they had no score lower than 13.933. They didn’t do as well on the floor, but they just had to get through without a major issue to clinch a spot on the podium. Alice D’Amato went on all four apparatuses, with scores ranging from 13.466 on floor to a breathtaking 14.633 on uneven bars.
Brazil was bailed out by the brilliance of Rebeca Andrade. She had a 14.533 on uneven bars. Then 14.133 on beam. A 14.200. To finish, just a 15.100 on vault. She bested Biles on vault and uneven bars – though, remember, Biles didn’t attempt her most difficult vault, and uneven bars really aren’t her thing.
So, so close for Team GB. Their lowest score was Becky Downie’s 12.933 on beam. Downie also posted their best score – 14.933 on uneven bars, which bodes well for her chances in the apparatus final. But their next highest score was 14.000 by Alice Kinsella, also on bars. They did the best they could with the routines they had, but they just don’t have the explosive power of a Biles or an Andrade.
Updated
What a team.
The USA actually backed off the throttle a bit, doing some safer routines here and there. They scored exactly one point less than they did in qualification, though in qualification, they’re allowed to have four gymnasts compete and then drop the lowest score.
Because their degree of difficulty is so high, even with a few slightly easier routines today, other teams have to hope they wipe out multiple times. They didn’t. Jordan Chiles fell as she started her balance beam routine, then did a solid job the rest of the way. That was the lowest score the USA posted today – a 12.733. The next lowest was Suni Lee’s 13.533 on the floor exercise. Only one other score was below 14 – Chiles again, on floor.
Team USA posted the highest score on each apparatus – on vault and floor, by more than a point.
We’ve seen what can happen when things go wrong. Biles withdrew in Tokyo. Lee has had some struggles. Jade Carey has been ill and had a rough floor routine in qualifying.
But when things go (mostly) right, this is the most unbeatable team in sports.
US women win team gymnastics gold
Biles gets a 14.666.
Final scores:
171.296 USA
- 5.802 Italy
- 6.799 Brazil
- 7.033 Great Britain
- 8.864 Canada
- 9.165 China
- 11.799 Romania
- 11.833 Japan
Updated
Simone Biles on floor …
How she gets that high in the air is beyond me. But she has a slight step, maybe touching a foot out of bounds.
She immediately does her second aerial assault and sticks the landing. It’s safe to say she’s clinched gold.
A BIG hop out of bounds on her third pass. This hasn’t been Biles at her best today.
She nails the fourth one. The difficulty score for this must be off the charts.
And that’s it.
Brazil are in first place right now, but the USA will only need 7.867 to pass them.
Italy are 12.836 back. Team GB need 13.834 from Kinsella.
And NO … it’s a 13.600. Oh, that’s heartbreaking.
Italy easily jump into the temporary lead.
Last up in this final … Simone Biles, needing an 8.864 to clinch the win.
Updated
I think Alice Kinsella has done enough to clinch bronze for Team GB, and so does she.
Angela Andreoli also had a solid routine on floor for Italy.
Five teams have finished …
Alice Kinsella is up now for GB while Angela Andreoli is up on floor for Italy. I have to watch both at the same time.
It’s a 13.966 for Chiles. That’s fine.
China will NOT medal. They were unable to break 40 on the vault (39.999), and they come in behind Brazil and Canada.
Japan also has finished, well behind them.
Alice Kinsella is still waiting to do a beam routine with an eye on the podium for GB.
Jordan Chiles really just needs to stay upright to all but seal the gold for the USA, and she does much more than that. The crowd explodes after she lands a massive aerial sequence.
We have final scores for Brazil and Canada.
164.497 Brazil
- 2.065 Canada
Team GB needs a 13.835 to pass Brazil. Italy is still almost exactly a point ahead of them.
“I can tell that she’s not breathing,” says NBC’s Laurie Hernandez of Downie. Hernandez also noticed that she omitted a connection between two skills.
It’s a solid routine, though, and Downie seems relieved as she trots off.
Jordan Chiles on floor now …
Rebeca Andrade has the last word for Brazil, and she gets good air off the vault. Slight step on the landing, but this could be important – and will keep the pressure on as …
Becky Downie starts on beam for GB …
Brazil and China have each had two scores calculated, and Brazil has a lead of 0.432.
Now Canada gets a second score, and they’re 0.465 back of Brazil.
It’s a 13.533 for Lee, and I’m puzzled by that one. Won’t hurt, though.
Flavia Saraiva finishes a gutsy performance for Brazil with a decent vault, still sporting a bandage on her forehead. 13.900.
Rebecca Downie (GB) is up next on beam.
Awaiting Suni Lee’s score … still …
If you look at the standings right now, the USA are in last place.
Because they’re the only team that hasn’t had a routine scored in this rotation yet.
Suni Lee looks supremely confident as she heads out on the floor. Her somersault passes are solid.
It’s going to take a disaster for the USA to lose gold, and that was pretty far from a disaster.
13.566 for Fenton on beam. GB slightly extends its lead on Canada and closes in on Italy.
I don’t think Georgia-Mae Fenton’s beam routine had anywhere near the level of difficulty of what we’ve seen from others, but she lands it cleanly. And I’ll check the difficulty score to see if I’m wrong, which can happen.
Suni Lee is pacing and waiting to get the clearance to start her floor exercise. This has to be agonizing.
Italy’s Manila Esposito is up first on floor. She starts by crawling across the floor as if desperately yearning. Then she stands and flips with aplomb – until her second pass across the floor, when she steps out on the landing and is visibly disappointed.
Elsewhere:
Canada posted 13.500 on bars.
Brazil posted 13.366 on vault – it didn’t look good.
GB up on beam …
I’m switching my second screen from “multiview” to balance beam so I can monitor Team GB.
Comparing last-rotation scores from qualifying …
How did these teams do in qualifying on the apparatuses on which they are about to compete in the final? Let’s check …
USA (floor): 41.566, though they were able to drop Jade Carey’s score after her fall. She’s not scheduled to do this in the final.
Italy (floor): 40.833.
Great Britain (beam): 40.333. Does Downie have another moment of magic?
Canada (uneven bars): 41.132.
China (vault): 40.099. That bodes ill
Brazil (vault): 42.733.
Standings after three rotations
Hello Great Britain – your team is stunningly in third with rotation to go.
129.131 USA
- 3.602 Italy
- 4.967 Great Britain
- 6.499 Canada
- 6.999 China
- 7.000 Brazil
- 8.634 Romania
- 8.801 Japan
We’ll have Italy and Brazil’s last scores from Rotation 3 any day now …
All eyes on Rebeca Andrade (Brazil) on the floor exercise, and she does not disappoint.
It won’t be enough to pull Brazil onto podium. But don’t miss her in the all-around.
Jason Kelce is in the house.
It’s a 14.366 for Biles, significantly down from her 14.733 in qualifying, but that’ll do.
“Only her toes caught on the beam there,” marvels NBC commentator and distinguished Olympian Laurie Hernandez as Simone Biles flirts with disaster.
It’s a 14.933 for Downie.
Rebecca Downie (GB) walks off from the uneven bars carrying a pair of giant headphones and a bit of a smile. She looked quite good. Will update with her score after Biles goes on beam, which is … now.
A nice surprise for the USA – the women’s rugby team just beat Australia for bronze. Shoutout to the people who took up the sport in college, like one of my closest relatives (at the same school as a US team member, in fact).
Great routine for Team GB – Georgia-Mae Fenton gets a 14.000. Their longshot bid for a medal is very much alive.
Especially with China still making mistakes – Ou Yushan steps out on floor and gets a 12.733.
Back to the USA – Suni Lee gets an outstanding 14.600.
Chiles fell. Suni Lee has made some errors in qualifying and today. How will she respond?
Just fine.
Lee opens with a gorgeous spin and lands cleanly every time she flips, including a dazzling sequence of three somersaults.
Still four routines to go for the USA, but Lee just put them firmly back in charge.
Italy is staking a big claim for silver, with Manila Esposito landing a confident beam routine. That’s a 13.966.
Team GB note: Alice Kinsella opened the uneven bars rotation with a 13.300. Rebecca Downie will be up third.
It’s a 12.733 for Chiles.
But Zhou Yaqin only manages a 13.200 on floor, so it’s not as if China gained a ton of ground there.
Big mistake for the USA! Jordan Chiles leapt onto the beam with a somersault and immediately fell off. NBC’s commentary crew was stunned into silence for a few seconds.
But because gymnasts are made of sterner stuff than us mere mortals, she recovers to do the rest of her routine brilliantly.
That’ll be a 1-point deduction. But the USA have some points to spare.
Updated
Standings at the halfway point
The beneficiary of all the bobbles and falls in that rotation is … Team GB. It’ll still be difficult to crack that top three, but they’re ahead of Brazil and Japan for now.
87.432 USA
- 3.102 Italy
- 3.966 China
- 5.501 Great Britain
- 5.834 Romania
- 6.267 Brazil
- 6.666 Canada
- 7.867 Japan
Rebeca Andrade (Brazil) isn’t messing around. She seems to be daring the balance beam to throw her off. It’s a 14.133.
After a long, long wait, Suni Lee (USA) gets a 14.566!!! Even with the mistakes? Her difficulty score was a high 6.300, so the execution score of 8.266 will suffice.
Luo Huan is on beam for China.
Suni Lee (USA) attacked the bars like she was mad about falling. She didn’t fall this time, though she looked a little bit off her form at times, and NBC’s commentators tell us she backed out of a connection she was supposed to make. Then a replay shows that she brushed a foot on the ground.
But she sticks the landing, and given the carnage around the arena, it’s hard to imagine the USA not having a sizable advantage at the halfway point.
It’s a rough landing for Evans on the vault.
Qiu Qiyuan gives China a much-needed boost with a 14.600 on beam.
NOW, Suni Lee is up.
Saraiva’s score came in – 13.433. Not bad.
Now up: Suni Lee (USA) on uneven bars and Ruby Evans (GB) on vault.
Canada’s challenge may be unraveling here. Cassandra Lee gets a 12.600 on floor exercise.
Team GB has two decent scores so far on vault – 13.800 for Georgia-Mae Fenton and 13.966 for Alice Kinsella.
Simone Biles (USA, obviously) just landed a perfectly solid routine on uneven bars. It’s a 14.400. Spike Lee applauds.
Before that, Alice D’Amato boosted Italy’s medal hopes with a 14.633.
Flavia Seraiva (Brazil) would probably look fierce even without the bandage on her forehead. She gets through her beam routine unscathed, albeit with a wobble here and there.
Zhou Yaqin (China) took silver in the 2023 world championships on balance beam. She just got a mediocre 12.300, with an 0.1 penalty and an execution score of 6.300. Horrible start for China.
Jordan Chiles (USA) would be the gymnast in any country except the USA and maybe Brazil, where she’d be a close second to Andrade. Her parents are pounding their chests in the stands. Natalie Portman also loves it. Serena Williams is sitting two seats down from Nadia Comenici, who knows a thing or two about this sport and is also enthused.
It’s a 14.366, up a tenth from her qualifying score.
Updated
The balance beam monster claims another victim – Zhou Yaqin (China) has to put both hands down to stop a fall.
After a long delay, we’ll finally see the first US gymnast in this rotation – Jordan Chiles.
Ouch – Suni Lee lands flat on her back after missing a catch in warmups. Seems OK, but that’ll require some mental fortitude to put out of her mind.
Aurelie Tran (Canada) posts a 13.100 on floor. I saw about half of the routine and thought she looked a little unsteady in her spins but solid in her tumbling passes. Her difficulty score was a relatively easy 5.0. Which is far more than you or I could ever dream of doing.
Disaster for Brazil – Julia Soares falls off the beam.
Celebrity watch
Standings after first rotation
44.100 USA
42.666 China
41.665 Italy
41.433 Canada (!!)
41.199 Brazil
40.599 Romania
40.199 Great Britain
39.966 Japan
Remember – it would not have been a surprise to see China right up with the USA after this rotation.
Andrade (Brazil) looked every bit like the all-around individual contender she is. She seems quicker than most gymnasts as she swings from bar to bar. Her handstands look impeccable.
14.533, higher than anyone else on the bars in this rotation – including all three Chinese gymnasts. Brazil needed that – they were falling behind after their first two gymnasts’ routines.
Alice Kinsella (GB) lands a complex combination in her floor routine, landing with a bit of a hop but looking generally good. Not scored yet.
Flavia Saraiva (Brazil) will compete with a big bandage on her head after her warmup fall. She’s a picture of determination. A big hop on the landing, and she gets a 13.666.
Now up on bars: Rebeca Andrade (Brazil) …
A mere 14.900 for Biles. That’s 0.9 points less than her score in qualifying, but it would’ve tied Andrade for second.
It’s a strategic call. This vault had a 5.6 difficulty score instead of the 6.4 she had in qualifying. Obviously, that accounts for 0.8 of the 0.9 difference.
Alice Kinsella (GB) now on the floor.
Biles does the “Chung” vault, a bit easier than some of the tricks in her arsenal. She lands with a little two-foot hop. Maybe didn’t knock it out of the park, but she showed no discomfort upon landing.
Updated
14.800 for Carey, even higher than she got in qualification.
Qiu Qiyuan (China) didn’t complete something in her uneven bars routine, which could be a terrible outcome for the medal contenders.
Alice D’Amato (Italy) has a big hop on the vault and gets a 13.933.
Now, Simone Biles …
Jade Carey (USA) is up for the only five seconds in which she’ll be competing tonight. She is outstanding in this event and will be back for the apparatus final. She has been sick all week.
BANG! She lands emphatically on her feet and bursts into a huge smile. That’ll do nicely.
Oh no. Brazil’s Flavia Saraiva had a horrible fall off the uneven bars in warmups and stayed down for a bit. She’s being treated now. That would be a terrible loss for a medal-contending team.
USA’s Jordan Chiles is up first on the vault. No pressure.
She looks good in the air and lands with a little bounce.
The score: 14.400. That’s a slight improvement off what she did in qualifying.
Team GB’s Ruby Evans gets a 13.100 on floor.
They’re replacing the springboard for the vault. Seems like an odd time to do that, after gymnasts have warmed up.
GB’s Ruby Evans is in the midst of a solid floor exercise routine.
We’re getting extended gymnast introductions now. The Italian gymnasts look resplendent in white sparkly uniforms.
Then a huge roar as Team USA emerge. They have to pull Simone Biles back to the entrance area to finish the introduction – the GOAT was on her way to the first apparatus, but she returns with a sheepish grin.
The all-important vault
In that first rotation, watch Jade Carey, who fought through illness in qualifying that clearly affected her in the floor exercise to post the third-best vault score and qualify for the apparatus final just ahead of teammate Jordan Chiles, who will also be competing here for Team USA. Chiles will go first, then Carey, and then Simone Biles, who led vault qualifying despite tweaking her left calf and occasionally limping while off the mat.
Also, it was on the vault in Tokyo three years ago that we first saw that Biles was struggling.
So if Carey and Biles do what they’re capable of doing — and in Biles’ case, that would mean doing something no one else is capable of doing — that’ll be a great sign for the USA that everything is OK. In qualifying, Biles hit a vault with a difficulty score of 6.4; no one else tried anything higher than 5.6.
We’re due to kick off in seven minutes.
Schedule
As in yesterday’s men’s event, the USA will travel in tandem with Italy. They’ll start on vault, in which the USA could either put up huge numbers or raise a yellow flag warning that something is wrong. See next post for details.
Look for China to stay close through the first half of the competition. In qualifying, China posted the top score on uneven bars — the only apparatus on which anyone outscored the USA, perhaps because it’s Biles’ worst event by far — and was second on balance beam, and those happen to be their first two stops today.
If the USA get through Rotation 3 (balance beam) with no hiccups, they’ll likely have a lead big enough that they’d need a disastrous series of falls on floor exercise to miss out on gold. But that’s an “if.” Two or three missed routines would make this close, even if the USA attempt routines with degree of difficulty scores that read like height measurements of a men’s basketball team.
The full schedule:
Rotation 1: USA/Italy vault, China/Brazil uneven bars, Japan/Canada balance beam, Great Britain/Romania floor. The USA lineup: Chiles, Carey, Biles. Team GB: Evans, Martin, Kinsella.
This will be Carey’s only appearance and the only event Lee skips. (Hezly Rivera, who posted two non-counting scores in qualifying, isn’t scheduled to appear. Only three gymnasts compete for each country on each apparatus.)
Rotation 2: USA/Italy uneven bars, China/Brazil beam, Japan/Canada floor, GB/Romania vault. Team GB: Fenton, Kinsella, Evans. USA lineup: Chiles, Biles, Lee — it’s Biles’ worst event, but that’s like picking a “worst” flavor of ice cream. She’s still quite good. Vault was Team GB’s strength in qualifying. Uneven bars was Italy’s best.
Rotation 3: USA/Italy beam, China/Brazil floor, Japan/Canada vault, GB/Romania uneven bars. Team USA: Chiles, Lee, Biles. For Team GB, this will be the first appearance for Rebecca Downie, who’s last up after Kinsella and Fenton.
Rotation 4: USA/Italy floor, China/Brazil vault, Japan/Canada uneven bars, GB/Romania beam. Team USA: Lee, Chiles, Biles. Team GB: Fenton, Downie, Kinsella.
Qualifying reminder, or who's who
Qualifying scores:
1. USA 172.296
2. Italy -5.435
3. China -5.668
4. Brazil -5.797
5. Japan -10.100
6. Canada -10.733
7. Great Britain -11.466
8. Romania -12.799
The USA had the first, third and fourth top finishers individually — the incomparable Simone Biles first, Tokyo gold medalist Suni Lee third, and Jordan Chiles fourth. In the individual all-around, Chiles is out because each country is limited to two gymnasts, but she’s scheduled to perform on three of the four apparatuses today.
Brazil have Rebeca Andrade, the Tokyo silver medalist and 2022 world champion, who finished second in qualification — far behind Biles but well ahead of Lee. They’re not just a one-woman team. Flavia Saraiva was 11th in individual all-around qualifying, and Julia Soares made the event final on balance beam.
Italy had a remarkable qualifying run, with Manila Esposito and Alice D’Amato taking sixth and seventh behind the lead trio, Chiles and Algeria’s Kaylie Nemour, who isn’t in the team event. The top Chinese gymnasts, Qui Qiyuan and Ou Yushan, were eighth and 12th.
I have a question …
Figure skating used to have serious questions about judging, though that concern has faded with a more scientific approach in the past 20 years.
Boxing judging is mystifying, as a couple of US boxers have discovered in Paris.
How is it that gymnastics – along with diving, skateboarding, BMX freestyle and a few other sports – rarely draws a complaint, at least in recent times? What are they doing right that others are doing wrong?
Preamble
This is an event that anyone who follows Olympic sports has had circled on the calendar for months.
On paper, it’s a blowout. The US gymnasts routinely perform routines with degrees of difficulty that are a level above the rest of the world. They have the last two Olympic all-around champions, one of whom (Simone Biles) is clearly the GOAT.
But we’ve seen how things can go awry. In Tokyo, Biles suffered from what’s called “the Twisties” and wound up as a spokesperson for mental health awareness.
Suni Lee is also coming back from an experience that can derail elite gymnasts. She competed in college. Nothing against the college sports experience, but college gymnastics is a different animal, and getting back to international competition can be an adjustment.
The USA dominated in qualification but showed some weaknesses. Biles had trouble with her left calf and appeared to be limping at times. Jade Carey tumbled out of the competition zone on the floor exercise and later revealed that she has been ill.
And let’s not forget – Brazil, Italy and China are pretty good at this as well. Team GB was far off the pace in qualifying, but we have to keep an eye on Rebecca Downie MBE, who is back for her third Olympics after being controversially omitted from the Tokyo squad. And you never know. The US men didn’t look like medal contenders in qualifying, and now Stephen Nedoroscik is a national hero. (Can we give a little love to Fred Richard, who dramatically improved his qualifying scores on all four apparatuses on which he competed? Or Brody Malone, who came back from a near-disastrous qualifying performance with steady appearances on five apparatuses? Or Paul Juda and Asher Hong?)
I digress. We’ll keep an eye on Team GB as well and see if they can surprise.
So we’ll either see a close contest or more brilliance from one of the most transcendent athletes of our time, Simone Biles. Or both. Let’s watch.
Updated
Beau will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s how the men’s final finished:
As the final rotation of the gymnastics men’s team final began, the Chinese team seemed almost certain to finish Monday as Olympic gold medallists. After dominating the qualifying on Saturday, they had established a commanding three-point lead over Japan with three routines to go. Both teams closed out the competition on the horizontal bar, where China had outscored Japan. With plenty of room for error, all they had to do was remain relatively solid to secure their win.
However, when attempting to execute some of the most difficult gymnastics skills in the world under suffocating pressure, things can quickly fall apart. What followed was a meltdown of the ages. First Xiao Ruoteng, the Chinese veteran, landed his dismount to his knees, stumbling forward before regaining his balance. Then came Su Weide, a 24-year-old in his first Olympic Games, who fell twice. First he peeled off the horizontal bar, then, after regrasping the bar, he immediately tumbled again.
As chaos reigned in the final minutes of the team final and China crumbled, a gutsy Japanese team pulled off a dramatic last-minute comeback to win the first artistic gymnastics gold of the Olympic Games. With a score of 259.594, the Japanese team triumphed over China by .532 points.
While the Chinese team rued their second place finish, an incredibly solid United States celebrated a brilliant bronze medal, their first men’s team medal since 2008. Great Britain, meanwhile, finished 1.8 points behind the USA in fourth place. Despite performing well and counting only one fall, the British team were outperformed by a more well-rounded American team.
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