Going into the competition, Simone Biles, Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey, and Hezly Rivera were favorites to win gold, going on to bring the U.S. back to the Olympic team podium for the first time since 2016.
With this gold medal, Biles has made history once again. The 27-year-old now has five Olympic gold medals and eight medals total, reaching the highest total for any American gymnast in history.
According to USA Today, the U.S. women’s gymnastics team winning gold gives Biles more Olympic medals than any other American gymnast. She now has eight Olympics medals in three Games, which breaks the tie she had with Shannon Miller.
Prior to this Tuesday’s big win, Biles already held the record for most gold megals by an American gymnast, winning four at the Rio Olympics. The record-breaker also has a silver and two bronze medals from Rio and Tokyo.
The United States won the gold medal with a dominant performance of 171.296 points, finishing ahead of second-place Italy by almost 6 points. Brazil went home with the bronze medal.
Just three years ago in Tokyo, the U.S. team won silver, coming in second place behind the Russian team. This came after Simone Biles withdrew from the event because of a mental block that made her disoriented in the air. This marked the first time that the U.S. didn’t finish in first place since 2008, when they won silver at the Beijing Games.
Now, the team is back at the top of the podium where they belong!