Simone Biles leads Team USA to gold in team final
It’s their redemption tour, and Biles said she “couldn’t be more proud” of her fellow U.S. women’s gymnastics teammates.
The team, made up of Biles, Lee, Chiles, Carey and Rivera, just won gold in the team final.
Biles said ahead of the final, the team was “bumping music” but once they got to the Bercy Arena, “we all knew what the job was.”
“We’ve all put in the work, mentally and physically, so for it to show out there and for us to come together meant the world to all of us,” Biles told “TODAY” show host Hoda Kotb. “So, yeah, we did it.”
Chiles told Kotb she was ready to “just have a party” ahead of the event, adding that she was thinking, “I’m just going to go out there and do what I know.”
Chiles teared up as she finished her floor routine, her last of the day, and again on the podium while she was accepting her gold medal. “It was definitely an experience, and the tears were all joy,” she said.
Lee said their gold medal finish was “super exciting” and that it’s the “best time” she’s had with the Olympic team, pointing to the lack of a crowd at the Tokyo Games because of Covid.
Carey only hit the vault today, and she told Kotb before she exploded down the runway, she told herself “to be normal.”
“That was exactly what this team needed me to do,” she said. “Just do my normal vault.”
Rivera, the youngest on the team at 16, did not compete in the team final today, but still earned a medal as a team member who competed in qualifiers.
She said wearing a gold medal around her neck is “surreal.”
“This team has worked so hard and I’m so proud of how far we’ve come because we put in all the work,” she said.
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