The U.S. Women’s Gymnastics team consists of Laurie Hernandez, Madison Kocian, Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, and Gabby Douglas. The five girls took home the gold medal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The talented women wore their red, white, and blue leotards to show their pride for the U.S. The team scored 184.897 points total for the gold. Russia received the silver medal at 176.688 points, and China went home with bronze at 176.003 points.
Four years ago, the team also won the gold medal at the Olympics in London. Since then, the five women have earned the title of the “Fierce Five.”
Raisman states that the team’s strategy is to show confidence. She says, “We’re going in as the best team in the world. So we should carry ourselves that way, not be scared and shaky because we have that pressure. It should be the opposite. You know, you walk in like you’re number one and I think that’s intimidating to everyone else.”
Simone Biles’ coach, Aimee Boorman, says that the girls were a bit tense in the warmup area. Boorman’s advice to them was to “feed off the energy of the crowd and do it from a place of joy.”
After the five girls received their gold medals, they shouted in unison, “We are the Final Five!” They decided to call themselves the “Final Five” instead of the “Fierce Five” this time around. The girls agreed to change their nickname to honor the national-team coordinator, Martha Karolyi, who is retiring after the Rio Games.
Another reason for the name change is because of the 2020 Tokyo Games, where there can only be four members. Thus, this will be the last time there will be a five-member winning team from the U.S.
Photo Credits: Alex Livesey/Getty Images
Which team are you cheering for at the Rio Games? Which event are you waiting to see? Let us know on Twitter at @CelebMix!