IOC President hails Rio 2016 as “iconic Games”

As the Olympic Games Rio 2016 entered the final weekend of competition, IOC President Thomas Bach offered a glowing assessment of the athletic achievements, the sports venues and the spirit of the Brazilian people.

"We have seen iconic athletes across all the sports,” he told reporters at a wrap-up media briefing. “The level of competition over all the sports was extremely high, and I can only congratulate the athletes for their stunning performances. This is only possible if you have excellent venues.”

He added, “The Brazilians were great hosts and united behind these Games. With the joy of life of the Brazilians, they turned this into a great party for everybody.”

President Bach also cited what he called “iconic stories” from the Rio 2016 Games, a series of

USA wins one gold, three silver on final day of gymnastics at 2016 Olympics

© John Cheng

• Men's Results: Parallel Bars | High Bar
• Women's Results: Floor Exercise
• Photo Gallery
• USAGym2016.com

RIO DE JANEIRO – Simone Biles of Spring of Texas/World Champions Centre, and Aly Raisman of Needham, Mass./Brestyan's American Gymnastics, won the gold and silver medals, respectively, on the floor exercise at the 2016 Olympic Games at the Rio Olympic Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The medals were the eighth and ninth for the Final Five, the 2016 Olympic team champions, for the most women’s gymnastics Olympic medals won by a country since the Soviet Union’s 10 in 1972. For the men, Danell Leyva of Miami/Team Hilton (Universal Gymnastics), claimed the parallel bars and high bar silver medals on the final day of competition. The USA mined a total of 12 medals, the most since 1984.

This is the first time the U.S. women have won nine medals at an Olympic Games. The nine medals are: four gold, four silver and one bronze. Biles’ five Olympic medals make her the most decorated U.S. gymnast at the 2016 Olympics, and her four gold medals tie the Olympic record for a female gymnast in a single Games. Including her 2016 medals, Raisman’s six career Olympic medals is the second highest total in U.S. gymnastics history behind Shannon Miller.

The 12 U.S. Olympic medals are listed below.

• Women’s team: gold
• Biles: all-around, vault and floor exercise gold, and balance beam bronze
• Hernandez: balance beam silver
• Kocian, uneven bars silver
• Leyva, parallel bars and high bar silver
• Alex Naddour of Queen Creek, Ariz./Team Hilton (USA Youth Fitness Center), pommel horse bronze
• Raisman, all-around and floor exercise silver

In the women’s floor final, Biles tumbled a layout full-out; double layout half-out (Biles); tucked double-double; and tucked full-in. Her 15.966 clinched the gold medal. Opening with her trademark one-and-a-half twist to double Arabian, punch layout front, Raisman scored a 15.500 to win silver. Great Britain’s Amy Tinkler claimed the bronze at 14.933.

Leyva captured two silvers on the final day of competition. On parallel bars, he capped off his magnificent routine with a stuck double front dismount to score a 15.900 and win the silver medal. Ukraine’s Oleg Verniaiev claimed gold with a 16.041 and David Belyavskiy of Russia earned the bronze (15.783).

Leyva performed a thrilling routine in the horizontal bar final with a layout Kovacs, Kolman and a double-twisting double layout dismount to score a 15.500, which earned the silver medal. Sam Mikulak of Newport Coast, Calif./Team Hilton (U.S. Olympic Training Center), hit his routine including a Cassina, Kolman and double twisting double layout dismount to score a 15.400 for fourth place. Germany’s Fabian Hambuechen won the title with his 15.766, and Nile Wilson of Great Britain finished third (15.466).

Gymnastics competition has concluded and wraps up its Olympics with two sessions of the gala on Aug. 17 at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Rio time.

Ways to follow the action

• NBC. NBC is the broadcast and web source for coverage and news on the Olympic Games.
  • Aug. 16, individual event finals, 8 p.m. ET, NBC
• NBCOlympics.com. NBCOlympics.com carries live and archived coverage of every gymnastics session as well as all sports.
• USAGym2016.com. Original stories, athlete bios, schedules, results and more are available at usagym2016.com.
• USAGym.org. The USA Gymnastics official website is a great source for information about the sport: latest news, the schedule of its premier events, athlete biographies, videos, photo galleries and more.
• TeamUSA.org. The U.S. Olympic Committee’s website will also be a good resource for information on the Team USA in Rio.
• Social Media. USA Gymnastics is providing live updates and exclusive content, including interviews and photos, on Facebook and Twitter (@USAGym).

BREAKING: Madison Kocian Wins Uneven Bars Silver In Olympic Debut

BREAKING...Rio De Janeiro, Brazil - Madison Kocian of the United States making her Olympic debut has won the silver medal for her routine on uneven bars with an 15.833.

Kocian routine  inside stalder to Komova II to Pak to stalder Shapo half, inside stalder blind to Jaeger, stalder, stalder full to full twisting double tuck stuck - little late on the first piro but super clean.

BREAKING: USA's Simone Biles Wins Gold On Vault

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BREAKING...Rio De Janeiro, Brazil - Simone Biles of the United States has won the gold medal on her vaults, first U.S. woman to win the Olympic title on vault and first to win three Olympic golds in single games in gymnastics.

Her first vault was 15.900 and second, 16.033 with an average of 15.966.

More to come....

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Dooley finishes 11th in men's trampoline at 2016 Olympics

© John Cheng

• Men's Results: Qualification | Final
• Photo Gallery
• USAGym2016.com

RIO DE JANEIRO – Logan Dooley of Lake Forest, Calif/World Elite Gymnastics, finished 11th in the men’s trampoline qualification round at the 2016 Olympic Games, held at the Rio Olympic Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is the best finish for a U.S. man at the Olympics. Competition continues tomorrow with the individual event finals for men’s and women’s artistic gymnastics at 2 p.m. Rio time.

The trampoline competition features one compulsory and one optional round for the preliminaries, with the top eight advancing to the finals, where one optional routine is performed.

Dooley scored a 47.885 for his compulsory routine highlighted with a layout full-full. In his optional routine, he executed a piked Triffus, half-in tuck Triffus, and tucked Triffus to earn a 58.170. Dooley garnered a combined score of 106.055, to place 11th.

Uladzislau Hancharou of Belarus won the gold medal with a score of 61.745, followed by China’s

Ahsinger finishes 15th in women's trampoline at 2016 Olympic Games

© John Cheng

• Women's Results: Qualification | Final
• Photo Gallery
• USAGym2016.com

RIO DE JANEIRO  – Nicole Ahsinger of Lafayette, La./Trampoline and Tumbling Express, finished 15th in the women’s trampoline qualification round at the 2016 Olympic Games, held at the Rio Olympic Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Trampoline continues tomorrow at 2 p.m. Rio time with the men’s competition that includes the USA’s Logan Dooley of Lake Forest, Calif/World Elite Gymnastics.

The trampoline competition features one compulsory and one optional round for the preliminaries, with the top eight advancing to the finals, where one optional routine is performed.

Ahsinger scored a 45.250 for a solid compulsory routine highlighted with a double front half-out and piked half-in, Rudi out. Her optional routine included a Rudi out; half-in, half-out piked; double pike; and layout full-full to score a 50.205. The first-time Olympian earned a combined total of 95.455 to finish in 15th place.

Canada’s Rosannagh MacLennan won gold with a score of 56.465. Great Britain’s Bryony Page earned the silver medal with a 56.040 and China’s Dan Li claimed the bronze medal with a 55.885.

Following men’s trampoline, men’s and women’s gymnastics takes center stage again with the individual event finals Aug. 14-16. The U.S. gymnasts competing in the individual event finals are: women’s vault – Simone Biles of Spring, Texas/World Champions Centre; uneven bars – Madison Kocian of Dallas, Texas/WOGA Gymnastics, and Gabby Douglas of Tarzana, Calif./Buckeye Gymnastics; balance beam – Biles and Laurie Hernandez of Old Bridge, N.J./MG Elite; floor exercise – Biles and Aly Raisman of Needham, Mass./Brestyan's American Gymnastics; men’s floor exercise – Jake Dalton of Sparks, Nev./Team Hilton (University of Oklahoma) and Sam Mikulak of Newport Coast, Calif./Team Hilton (U.S. Olympic Training Center); pommel horse – Alex Naddour of Queen Creek, Ariz./Team Hilton (USA Youth Fitness Center); parallel bars– Danell Leyva of Miami/Team Hilton (Universal Gymnastics); and horizontal bar – Leyva and Mikulak;.

Ways to follow the action
NBC is the broadcast and web source for coverage and news on the Olympic Games.

• NBC Olympics.com. NBCOlympics.com will carry live coverage of every gymnastics session as well as all sports, and maintain an archive for on-demand coverage. The gymnastics schedule is listed below.
  • Aug. 13, men’s trampoline qualification and final, 1 p.m. ET
  • Aug. 14, individual event finals, 1 p.m. ET
  • Aug. 15, individual event finals, 1 p.m. ET
  • Aug. 16, individual event finals, 1 p.m. ET
• NBC. Gymnastics coverage is expected to appear in the primetime broadcast.
  • Aug. 14, individual event finals, 8 p.m. ET, NBC
  • Aug. 15, individual event finals, 8 p.m. ET, NBC
  • Aug. 16, individual event finals, 8 p.m. ET, NBC

USA Gymnastics and the United States Olympic Committee are also providing easy ways to follow the action from Rio.

• USAGym2016.com. Original stories, athlete bios, schedules, results and more are available at usagym2016.com.
• USAGym.org. The USA Gymnastics official website is a great source for information about the sport: latest news, the schedule of its premier events, athlete biographies, videos, photo galleries and more.
• TeamUSA.org. The U.S. Olympic Committee’s website will also be a good resource for information on the Team USA in Rio.
• Social Media. USA Gymnastics is providing live updates and exclusive content, including interviews and photos, on Facebook and Twitter (@USAGym).

Biles wins gold, Raisman silver in women's all-around at 2016 Olympic Games

© John Cheng

• Results
• Photo Gallery
• USAGym2016.com

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, Aug. 11, 2016 -- Simone Biles of Spring, Texas/World Champions Centre, and Aly Raisman of Needham, Mass./Brestyan’s American Gymnastics, won the gold and silver medals, respectively, in the all-around at the 2016 Olympic Games held at Rio’s Olympic Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Biles, a three-time World all-around champion (2013-15), is the fourth female gymnast in Olympic history to capture back-to-back World and Olympic all-around titles. She joins Gabby Douglas (2012), Nastia Liukin (2008), Carly Patterson (2004), and Mary Lou Retton (1984), as the only U.S. women’s gymnasts to win an Olympic all-around title.

Biles finished with a score of 62.198, followed by Raisman with a 60.098, and Russia’s Aliya Mustafina who earned the bronze with a 58.665. The 1-2 finish marks only the second time in history the U.S. has swept the top two spots on the podium in the women’s all-around competition. Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson earned gold and silver at the 2008 Olympics Games in Beijing, China. Biles’ victory gives the United States a fourth consecutive gold medal in the women’s all-around.

All-around scores for USA

• Simone Biles: all-around, 62.198; vault, 15.866; uneven bars, 14.966; balance beam, 15.433; floor, 15.933.
• Aly Raisman: all-around, 60.098; vault, 15.633; uneven bars, 14.166; balance beam, 14.866; floor, 15.433.

Event highlights

• Vault: Biles – Amanar; Raisman – Amanar.
• Uneven bars
  • Biles – toe-on full pirouette; Tkatchev; piked Tkatchev to Pak salto; dismounts with a full-twisting double back.
  • Raisman – Maloney, Tkatchev; Jaeger; Overshoot, Stalder full pirouette; double front dismount.
• Balance beam
  • Biles – opened with a two-and-a-half wolf turn; barani; back handspring, layout, layout series; front aerial; dismounts with a full-twisting double back.
  • Raisman – pike front to open; back handspring to two foot layout; Arabian double front dismount.
• Floor exercise
  • Biles – opened with a full-twisting double layout; Biles to a split jump; tucked double-double; ends with a tucked full-in.
  • Raisman – one-and-a-half through to Arabian double front, punch layout; Arabian double pike to stag jump; double layout; closes with a double pike.

Individual finals

• Aug 14: men -- floor exercise, Mikulak and Dalton, and pommel horse, Naddour; women – vault, Biles and uneven bars, Kocian and Douglas.
• Aug. 15: men – still rings, vault; women – balance beam, Biles and Hernandez
• Aug. 16: men – parallel bars, Leyva, and horizontal bar, Leyva and Mikulak; women – floor exercise, Biles and Raisman.

Ways to follow the action
NBC is the broadcast and web source for coverage and news on the Olympic Games.

• NBC Olympics.com. NBCOlympics.com will carry live coverage of every gymnastics session as well as all sports, and maintain an archive for on-demand coverage. The gymnastics schedule is listed below.
  • Aug. 14, individual event finals, 1 p.m. ET
  • Aug. 15, individual event finals, 1 p.m. ET
  • Aug. 16, individual event finals, 1 p.m. ET
• NBC. Gymnastics coverage is expected to appear in the primetime broadcast.
  • Aug. 11, women’s all-around final, 8 p.m. ET

USA Gymnastics and the United States Olympic Committee are also providing easy ways to follow the action from Rio.

• USAGym2016.com. Original stories, athlete bios, schedules, results and more are available at usagym2016.com.
• USAGym.org. The USA Gymnastics official website is a great source for information about the sport: latest news, the schedule of its premier events, athlete biographies, videos, photo galleries and more.
• TeamUSA.org. The U.S. Olympic Committee’s website will also be a good resource for information on the Team USA in Rio.
• Social Media. USA Gymnastics is providing live updates and exclusive content, including interviews and photos, on Facebook and Twitter (@USAGym).

At a Glance: Team USA Takes Repeat Gold Medals in Women’s Gymnastics

© John Cheng

• Results
• USAGym2016.com

By Jo-Ann Barnas, Special Contributor For USA Gymnastics

Unbeatable then. Unstoppable now.

The most dominate team in the world the last three years now has an Olympic gold medal to prove it.

The U.S. Olympic women’s gymnastics team easily defended the team title it won in London with a masterful performance Tuesday at the Rio Olympic Arena.

Led by three-time World champion Simone Biles, the U.S. women became the first back-to-back Olympic team gold medalists since Romania in 2000 and 2004.

They did it by winning each event en route to an 184.897 total score, more than eight points ahead of silver-medalist Russia. China won the bronze medal.

The Americans had a .700 lead after vault, their first rotation, and extended it to 4.026 after uneven bars and 4.961 after balance beam.

The team of Biles, Aly Raisman, Laurie Hernandez, Gabby Douglas and Madison Kocian gave a sneak preview of how good they intended to be when they rolled through team qualifying on Sunday, finishing nearly 10 points higher than the second-best team, China.

The women's competition continues for U.S. all-arounders Biles and Raisman on Thursday.

Call them the 'Final Five' - U.S. women's team selects team nickname

• Results
• USAGym2016.com

By Jo-Ann Barnas, Special Contributor For USA Gymnastics

RIO DE JANEIRO -- The wait is over. Meet your "Final Five."

The much-anticipated nickname of the 2016 U.S. Olympic women's gymnastics team was unveiled moments after the Americans defended of their team gold this afternoon at the Rio Olympic Arena.

Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas, Madison Kocian and Laurie Hernandez settled on the nickname after a team vote last week. And it wasn't easy keeping it under wraps. Everyone from journalists to media celebrities like Ryan Seacrest had been trying to coax it out of them the past few days -- especially after the U.S. women's dominating performance in Sunday's qualifying.

According to USA Gymnastics Senior Vice President Rhonda Faehn, the "Final Five" nickname was selected because Rio will be the final Olympics featuring five team members; the sizes have been reduced to four starting at the 2020 Olympics.

Coincidently, it also happens to be the number of U.S. Olympic teams that retiring national team coordinator Martha Karolyi has overseen since succeeding husband Bela in 2001, leading the U.S. women to team silver or gold the last three games.

The Final Five follows on the heels of their gold-medal predecessors, the "Fierce Five." The 2012 Olympic team revealed that nickname before the team final in London, with Raisman, Douglas, Jordyn Wieber, McKayla Maroney and Kyla Ross living up to its billing as the team went on to outscore silver medalist Russia by more than five points. It was the second team gold for the U.S since 1996's Magnificent Seven, and first on international soil.

The team members who made up the Magnificent Seven and produced Team USA's first-ever women's gymnastics gold at the Atlanta Games were: Shannon Miller, Dominique Moceanu, Dominique Dawes, Kerri Strug, Amy Chow, Amanda Borden and Jaycie Phelps.