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The Golden Girls
Team USA cruised to victory in the women's team gymnastics final on Tuesday, beating the next-closest team by nearly six points. It was redemption for Simone Biles and a life-altering moment for her and her teammates — Sunisa Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera.
Tuesday's competition was as much a party as elite international gymnastics can get. The gymnasts cheered. They danced. They flexed and celebrated and pumped their fists along the way.
All four of the team members who competed [everyone but Rivera] were veterans of the Tokyo Games, where isolation, masks and empty stadiums sucked the life out of the experience. There were no fans. There was no family. This time they were going to bask in every roaring cheer and "U-S-A" chant.
The Americans didn't win by the absurd 9.59 margin as the 2016 superteam did in Rio de Janeiro but this was never in doubt. The U.S. scored the highest of any country on all four disciplines.
It was so lopsided that when Biles stepped onto the floor for the final performance of the final rotation, she needed a score of just 8.865 to secure gold. The lowest score of any gymnast on floor the entire night was a 12.600. Biles might be able to do that blindfolded.
"I kind of knew as long as I landed on my feet on all passes we were going to be good," Simone said. "So as soon I stepped out of bounds [on her first pass], I was like, 'Ah, well, there's a line, but I guess it isn't that big a deal.'"
It was that kind of night, one that was so missing in Tokyo where the pressure, the "twisties," the reaction and the pandemic made everything tense. Everyone expected a Biles coronation and a haul of medals. Instead it was a nightmare.
Now, well, now everything is possible again. She'll enter Thursday's all-around as the heavy favorite over Brazil's Rebeca Andrade and American teammate Suni Lee, who won all-around gold in Biles' absence in 2021. After that, potentially three more individual medals.
Rarefied air: Tuesday's gold extended a 32-year medal streak at the Olympics for the U.S. women and was their fourth team gold medal (1996, 2012, 2016, 2024).
"F Around and Find Out": During their celebratory press conference, former Team USA gymnast Aly Raisman asked the team what their nickname was — a program tradition whenever they win gold. Their answer: "F.A.A.F.O" (Here's the viral video, which was captured by yours truly!)
Biles later posted on social media, saying the official name is "Golden Girls" because they're such an old team (by gymnastics standards, at least).
And it's true: Raisman began the day as the oldest U.S. female gymnast to ever win Olympic gold (22 in 2016). She is now fourth behind Biles (27), Carey (24) and Chiles (23).
Dive deeper:Sports world reacts to Team USA's gold
Photos of the day
🌊 The Seine is open, finally: At long last, after many delays and billions in cleanup, swimmers dove into the Seine for the triathlon this morning, where France's Cassandre Beugrand took gold for the women and Great Britain's Alex Yee captured it for the men.
🏉 What a finish! Team USA upset Australia to win its first-ever Olympic medal in women's rugby sevens, and did so in spectacular fashion, with Alex Sedrick taking it the length of the field for a game-winning try as time expired.
⚽️ Into the quarters: The USMNT blanked Guinea, 3-0, to advance to the Olympic quarterfinals for the first time since 2000. The final eight: USA vs. Morocco, France vs. Argentina, Egypt vs. Paraguay and Japan vs. Spain.
🥈 Silver ain't bad: The U.S. won silver in all three swimming medal events on Tuesday. Regan Smith and Katharine Berkoff finished second and third in the 100m backstroke, Bobby Finke took silver in the 800m free, and the American men finished second in the 4x200m free relay.
Day 4 recap:More from Tuesday
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Athlete Spotlight:Lily Zhang is the queen of American table tennis, with six national championships and four Olympic appearances under her belt at just 28 years old. But at first, her parents wanted her to get a real job…
At age 16, she competed at the 2012 London Games. Though she lost her first match, her parents declared it a resounding victory. "They’re like, OK, you got to the Olympics, you got that on your college apps and now you can focus on studies," Zhang says.
She mostly quit table tennis after that. Then, as a freshman at Cal, she felt something was missing. She wanted to take a gap year and train for the next Summer Games. Her mother disapproved. "You already went to the London Olympics," Liu said at the time. "That is enough."
Then they came around… They housed her for the gap year, paid for flights to competitions and cheered her on in Rio and Tokyo. "It is always her decision," her dad Bob told WSJ. She's since joined the pro circuit, where she's earned as much as $11,000 for winning tournaments — and as little as $650. Perhaps one day she'll have a "normal" career, but for now she goes for gold.
Shining in Paris: Zhang has roared into the Round of 16 and earned a new fan in Anthony Edwards, who attended her match earlier this week. She plays today (8pm ET, Peacock) against Korea's Shin Yu-bin.
More athletes in action:
🤸 Frederick Richard and Paul Juda: The Michigan Wolverines duo already helped the U.S. men win their first team gymnastics medal since 2008. Today, they'll compete in the individual all-around.
🚴 Hannah Roberts: The Indiana native has dominated BMX Freestyle for nearly a decade, winning five of the last six world titles. She aims for gold today after winning silver in Tokyo.
Best of Team USA social:3,000 medals for Team USA … Gymnasts celebrate with their family … Sailing scenes in Marseille … Women's rugby celebration
Team USA:News | Athletes | Shop
Follow along at TeamUSA.com and @TeamUSA on social media.
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Full medal count.
Watchlist: Ledecky in her element
Katie Ledecky seeks her first gold of these Games in today's 1500m freestyle final (3:13pm ET, NBC), an event she has dominated for over a decade.
No close second: Ledecky, who won her heat by 17 seconds (!!!), hasn't lost a race at this distance since she was in junior high school 14 years ago. She's held the world record since 2013 and owns the 19 fastest times ever.
Featured events:
🏊♀️ Swimming: Five medal events (2:30pm, NBC) … Women's 100m Freestyle, Men's 200m Butterfly, Women's 1500m Freestyle, Men's 200m Breaststroke.
🤸 Men's Gymnastics: Individual All-Around Final (11:30am, NBC)
🏀 Men's Basketball: USA vs. South Sudan (3pm, USA)
⚽️ Women's Soccer: USA vs. Australia (1pm, E!) … The USWNT has already clinched a spot in the quarterfinals entering their group stage finale.
Medal events
🚴♀️ Women's BMX: Freestyle Final (7:10am, USA)
🚴🏼 Men's BMX: Freestyle Final (9am, USA)
🎯 Women's Shooting: Trap Final (9:30am, Peacock)
🥋 Judo: Women's 70kg and Men's 90kg (10am, Peacock)
🛶 Women's Canoe Slalom: Singles Final (11:25am, Peacock)
🤺 Men's Fencing: Sabre Team Final (1:30pm, Peacock)
Non-medal events: Archery, Badminton, 3x3 Basketball, Beach Volleyball, Boxing, Handball, Hockey, Sailing, Table Tennis, Tennis, Volleyball, Water Polo.
Primetime: Men's Gymnastics Individual All-Around Final, Women's 100m Freestyle Final, Women's 1500m Freestyle Final (9pm).
For a complete schedule, click here. Everyevent streams live on Peacock. Sign up here.
South Sudan: Program on the rise
South Sudan is the world's youngest country (13 years old) and doesn't have a single indoor basketball court. Today, they play LeBron James and Team USA at the Olympics.
The rise of the Bright Stars: South Sudan gained independence in 2011 after decades of civil war, and their men's basketball team didn't play a competitive game until 2017. But seven years later, they're for real: They came within seconds of beating Team USA in their pre-Olympics exhibition and stunned Puerto Rico in their opener.
The man behind their rise: Former NBA star Luol Deng, born in what is now South Sudan, became president of their basketball federation in 2019 and has reportedly been funding the program out of his own pocket.
He began recruiting South Sudanese players who'd been scattered across the globe in the wake of civil war, and by 2021 they'd qualified for AfroBasket.
Their big breakthrough came last year at the FIBA World Cup, where they finished 17th (out of 32 countries) and first among African nations, qualifying them for Paris.
Who's on the team? JT Thor, who played for the Hornets last year, is the Bright Stars' only active NBA player, though Wenyen Gabriel and Carlik Jones also have NBA experience. Keep an eye on 7-foot-2 center Khaman Maluach — a five-star recruit and incoming freshman at Duke.
Lightning round
👓 The swimmer who can't see: Australia's Kaylee McKeown won gold in the 100-meter backstroke, but she was one of the last people inside the arena to know. "Without my glasses, I can't see much," she said. "Is that first? Second? Third? Fourth? Fifth? Sixth? You never really know."
🏉 Kang makes rugby investment: Hours after they won a bronze medal, USA Rugby announced that businesswoman Michele Kang, who owns the NWSL's Washington Spirit, will make a $4 million donation to the women's rugby sevens team to help grow the sport.
😷 More COVID positives: Multiple swimmers, including two Americans, have tested positive for COVID-19 in recent days. They're not required to withdraw from competition as the virus is being treated more in line with other respiratory viruses.
🎾 Gauff wants VAR: Coco Gauff lost her Round 3 match against Croatia's Donna Vekić on Tuesday. While she took full responsibility for her early exit, she called for more video replay in tennis following an intense and tearful on-court argument near the end of the match.
Daily trivia
Question: What are the five colors of the Olympic rings?
Answer at the bottom.
In non-Olympics news...
Deadline deals: The trade deadline passed on Tuesday with an astonishing number of deals — 32, to be exact — but no real blockbusters. Starting pitcher Jack Flaherty's move from the Tigers to the Dodgers was the biggest splash of the day.
Plus:
⚾️ Mike Trout suffers rehab setback, leaving return this season in doubt
🏈 Bears WR DJ Moore signs four-year, $110M extension, richest in franchise history
⚾️ White Sox lose franchise-record 16th straight game
🎮 Christian McCaffrey joins Tyreek Hill in the 99 club on "Madden NFL 25"
🍿 HBO drops first trailer for "Hard Knocks" featuring the Bears
Trivia answer: Blue, yellow, black, green and red (Fun fact: These were chosen because at least one of them appeared on the flag of every nation at the time of the rings' creation.)
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