Team USA wins gold in women's team final

Team USA women's gymnastics team celebrates thier gold medal performance at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics. 

Team USA took home the gold medal in a thrilling performance unmatched at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics on Tuesday night in Paris. In front of many celebrities, family, and fans, the U.S. Women won the gymnastics team final at the Bercy Arena. For the third time since 1996, Simone Biles, Sunisa Lee, Jordan Chiles, and Jade Carey stood on top of all. Italy earned the silver medal, followed by Brazil, who won the bronze. 

After a wonderful performance in their subdivision qualification, the Americans were ready to best their silver medal from Tokyo and be on top for the first time since 2016. China and Japan were their closest competition in the Olympics but needed massive numbers to get close.

The United States women got underway on vault with  Chiles and Jade Carey nailing their attempts, sticking the landing each. Biles chose to perform a less difficult vault due to her tapped left calf. Her 14.900 bested her teammates, putting Team USA a point and a half ahead of China after the first rotation. 

The second rotation had the United States on uneven bars with Italy joining them. Chiles led the team off and brought their best early, scoring 14.366 before Biles went up. Italy’s Alice D’Amato, who won a spot in the apparatus final, scored 14.633. 

The 27-year-old American sped through her bars routine and slammed her feet to the mat. A 14.400 bested Chiles but not Sunisa Lee, who swept the floor with her feet and managed 14.566 based on her difficulty. At the halfway point, Team USA was three points ahead of Italy and four over China.

In the third rotation, the lineup for Team USA remained the same on the balance beam, but an unfortunate fall for Chiles occurred. At the start of her routine, the 23-year-old dropped off the beam for a one-point deduction, leaning too far to the left after jumping up. She finished the routine and earned 12.733, but had her teammates left to keep them on top. Lee had an excellent routine that earned the team 14.600, with Biles to close them out. She earned  14.366, giving them a 3.6-point lead over Italy and nearly five against Great Britain. 

Last up for the United States women was the floor exercise and Lee went first. The 21-year-old put together a masterful routine, earning the team 13.533. Chiles had several difficult tumbling passes in her routine and brought 13.966 with Biles left for the night. Italy guaranteed their team a medal halfway through the final rotation ending a 96-year drought. Biles stepped out of bounds twice during her floor routine, but it wasn’t enough for them to get anything less than gold. 

A total of 171.296 was what the US produced, followed by Italy, who beat Brazil by less than a point. Both countries made history by winning medals in the team competition for either the first time or ever.