The Golden Girls was the artistic gymnastics team that won the team gold medal for the United States in the women's team competition at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. The five members of the team were Simone Biles, Suni Lee, Jade Carey, Jordan Chiles, and Hezly Rivera. Later in the Olympic Games, Biles won a gold medal in the individual all-around event, becoming the first person to win it in non-consecutive games, a gold medal on vault, and a silver medal on floor; Carey won bronze on vault; and Lee won bronze in the individual all-around and uneven bars.
| Golden Girls | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Simone Biles, Suni Lee, Jade Carey, Jordan Chiles, and Hezly Rivera |
| Country represented |  United States |
| Discipline | Women's artistic gymnastics |
Medal record | |
Team background
editSimone Biles was a part of the gold medal-winning team, dubbed the Final Five, at the 2016 Rio Olympics, where Biles won gold in the all-around.[1]
Biles, Chiles, and Lee were all part of the Tokyo 2020 silver medal-winning team, while Carey competed in Tokyo as an individual.[2] Lee won gold in the all-around and Carey won gold on floor exercise.[3][4]
Olympic trials
editThe top all-around finisher at the 2024 Olympic trials, Simone Biles, was automatically named to her third Olympic team.[5] Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, and Jade Carey finished second, third, and fourth place, and were named to their second Olympic team by the selection committee. Hezly Rivera was the fifth person named to the team by the selection committee after placing fifth in the all-around. Joscelyn Roberson and Leanne Wong were named as traveling alternates for the women's team. Kaliya Lincoln and Tiana Sumanasekera were named as the non-traveling alternates.[6]
Captain and nickname
editSimone Biles, the captain of the Fighting Four and the oldest member of the Golden Girls at 27 years old, was once again selected as team captain by her teammates.
The team members originally announced the name "FAFO Five" during the press conference following their victory in the team event. Biles later announced via social media that the team name would be "Golden Girls" as the average age of the team was 22.2 the oldest of any gold-winning American team.[7]
2024 Summer Olympics
editQualifications
editThe United States qualified to the team final in first place, more than five points ahead of second place Italy.[8] Biles, Chiles, and Lee competed on all four events while Carey competed on vault and floor exercise and Rivera competed on uneven bars and balance beam. For the individual all-around, Biles, Lee, and Chiles finished first, third, and fourth respectively, with Biles and Lee qualifying to final and Chiles missing out due to two-per-country limitations. On vault, Biles, Carey, and Chiles finished first, third, and fourth respectively with Biles and Carey qualifying to the final; Chiles was once again being eliminated due to two-per-country limitations. On the uneven bars Lee qualified to the final in third place, with Biles being first reserve for the final. On balance beam Biles and Lee qualified to the final in second and fourth respectively. On floor exercise Biles and Chiles qualified first and third respectively.[8]
Team Final
editIn the team final Biles and Chiles competed on all four apparatuses, Lee competed on all but vault, and Carey only competed on vault. They ended the competition with a score of 171.296, nearly six points ahead of second place Italy. This was the United States' fourth Olympic team title.[9]
| Gymnast | 
|
|
|
|
Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simone Biles | 14.900 | 14.400 | 14.366 | 14.666 | 58.332 |
| Jade Carey | 14.800 | 14.800 | |||
| Jordan Chiles | 14.400 | 14.366 | 12.733 | 13.966 | 55.465 |
| Sunisa Lee | 14.566 | 14.600 | 13.533 | 42.699 | |
| Hezly Rivera | |||||
| United States
|
44.100 (1) | 43.332 (1) | 41.699 (1) | 42.165 (1) | 171.296 (1) |
Individual all-around
editBiles won the all-around final with a score of 59.131 ahead of Rebeca Andrade of Brazil. Lee placed third with a score of 56.465.[10] Biles became the third female gymnast to win two Olympic all-around titles after Larisa Latynina (1956–1960) and Věra Čáslavská (1964–1968) and the first to do so non-consecutively.[11] Lee became the first reigning champion since Nadia Comaneci in 1980 to return to the Olympic all-around podium.
| Gymnast |
|
|
|
|
Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simone Biles | 15.766 | 13.733 | 14.566 | 15.066 | 59.131 |
| Sunisa Lee | 13.933 | 14.866 | 14.000 | 13.666 | 56.465 |
Event finals
editDuring the vault final Biles won gold after performing her eponymous Biles II vault (Yurchenko double pike) and a Cheng. Carey won bronze after performing a Cheng and double-twisting Yurchenko.[12] Biles became the second woman to win two Olympic titles after Věra Čáslavská (1964–1968).[13] During the uneven bars final Lee won bronze behind Kaylia Nemour and Qiu Qiyuan.[14] During the balance beam final four of the eight competitors fell off of the apparatus, including both Biles and Lee. The ended up finishing fifth and six respectively.[15] During the floor exercise final Biles went out of bounds twice and incurred 0.6 points in neutral deductions. As a results she finished in second behind Rebeca Andrade. Initially Chiles was given a score of 13.666, which put her in fifth place. Her coach Cécile Canqueteau-Landi filed an inquiry which was accepted and Chiles score was raised by a tenth, giving her a final score of 13.766 which put her in bronze medal position.[16] The Romanian Gymnastics Federation filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) which determined that the inquiry was filed four seconds past the 1 minute time limitation and therefore Chiles' score would revert back to 13.666, which put her back in fifth place. The International Olympic Committee upheld the ruling from CAS.[17]
| Gymnast |
|
|
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simone Biles | 15.300 | 13.100 (5) | 14.133 | |
| Jade Carey | 14.466 | |||
| Jordan Chiles | 13.666 (5) | |||
| Sunisa Lee | 14.800 | 13.100 (6) |
Post Olympics
editBiles, Carey, Chiles, and Rivera participated in the Gold Over America Tour.[18]
See also
edit
- Women's artistic gymnastics events at the 2024 Summer Olympics
- Magnificent Seven, the U.S. 1996 Summer Olympics women's artistic gymnastics team, who won the first team all-around gold medal
- Fierce Five, the U.S. 2012 Summer Olympics women's artistic gymnastics team, who won the second team all-around gold medal
- Final Five, the U.S. 2016 Summer Olympics women's artistic gymnastics team, who won the third team all-around gold medal
References
edit- ^ Fincher, Julia (August 11, 2016). "Simone Biles bests Aly Raisman for all-around gold". nbcolympics.com. Archived from the original on August 12, 2016. Retrieved August 11, 2016.
- ^ "ROC wins women's team gold medal, ending Team USA's decade long reign". Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. 2021-07-27. Archived from the original on 2021-07-27. Retrieved 2021-07-27.
- ^ "Suni Lee Makes History With Gold-Medal Win in Tokyo Olympics. Here's Her Story". NBC Sports Chicago. 2021-07-29. Archived from the original on 2023-08-09. Retrieved 2023-08-08.
- ^ "Carey golden on floor exercise at 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games". USA Gymnastics. August 2, 2021. Archived from the original on February 23, 2022. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
- ^ "Simone Biles qualifies for a third Olympics after dominating US Olympic Gymnastic Trials". CNN. June 30, 2024.
- ^ "U.S. Women's Olympic Team Named at the conclusion of 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Gymnastics". USA Gymnastics. July 1, 2024. Retrieved July 1, 2024.
- ^ "Call them the 'Final Five' – U.S. women's team selects team nickname". NBC. July 31, 2024.
- ^ a b "U.S. women advance to final; Biles, Lee currently top the all-around leaderboard". USA Gymnastics. July 28, 2024.
- ^ "American women reclaim Olympic team title". USA Gymnastics. July 30, 2024.
- ^ "Biles claims sixth Olympic gold; Lee clinches bronze in all-around". USA Gymnastics. August 1, 2024.
- ^ Bregman, Scott (August 1, 2024). "Simone Biles claims second Olympic all-around title in epic showdown". International Olympic Committee.
- ^ "Biles continues golden run; Carey, Nedoroscik win bronze at Paris Games". USA Gymnastics. August 3, 2024.
- ^ "How did Simone Biles do in the women's vault final?". WPMT. August 3, 2024.
- ^ "Lee repeats as bronze medalist on uneven bars at Olympic Games". USA Gymnastics. August 4, 2024.
- ^ Graves, Will (August 5, 2024). "It was oddly quiet at the Olympics balance beam final, and Simone Biles says the gymnasts noticed". Associated Press.
- ^ "Biles wins 11th Olympic medal; Chiles clinches floor exercise bronze". USA Gymnastics. August 5, 2024.
- ^ "Jordan Chiles has to give back her bronze medal because appeal was 4 seconds too late, IOC says". NBC. 11 August 2024.
- ^ "Olympians Simone Biles, North Jersey's Hezly Rivera bringing tour to Prudential Center". North Jersey Media Group. August 16, 2024.