RIO DE JANEIRO — Martha Karolyi leaned forward, her hands clutching the railing in front of her seat. Knuckles white. Head tilted. Body tense.
RIO DE JANEIRO — Martha Karolyi leaned forward, her hands clutching the railing in front of her seat. Knuckles white. Head tilted. Body tense.
It didn’t matter that the U.S. women’s Olympic gymnastics team had already sewn up the team gold by the time three-time world champion Simone Biles saluted the floor exercise judges during the final event on Tuesday night.
Winning isn’t enough for Karolyi. Never has been. For 90 seconds the longtime national team coordinator leaned one way and then another, following Biles’ every move. Only after Biles’ score was posted — one that served as an exclamation point on two hours of nearly flawless gymnastics — did the architect of a dynasty relax.
Then, something else happened. Something she never saw coming. She started crying. And not just a little.
“I pride normally being very tough,” Karolyi said. “I was ‘Oh, what’s happening to me? What is this?’”
It’s goodbye.
The 73-year-old is stepping away from the program she has spent the last 15 years turning into one of the most dominant forces at the Olympics. Her athletes — all of whom she’s nurtured from prodigies to champions — repaid her hard work with a fitting tribute of precision and tenacity.
Twenty eight times in two days they stepped up to compete. And 28 times they hit. No falls. No major wobbles. Nothing but brilliance.
The U.S. posted a score of 184.897, more than eight points clear of silver medalist Russia and nearly nine more than bronze medalist China while winning its second straight Olympic title and third overall, a margin greater than the one that propelled the “Fierce Five” to victory in London four years ago.
So much for the pressure of being the heavy favorite. The only real mystery surrounded what nickname the team would settle on before Biles stumbled upon it during a group text.
The group — Biles, Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas, Madison Kocian and Laurie Hernandez — dubbed themselves “The Final Five” as a nod to Karolyi.
“It’s perfect,” Biles said. “It’s Martha’s last year. We wanted it to be meaningful.”
Biles admitted there were nerves before Sunday’s preliminaries, though it hardly looked like it while the Americans posted the highest score by more than nine points. The only moment of tension on Tuesday came early. When Hernandez was introduced to the crowd, Raisman nudged her and told her to wave, which the 16-year-old did with a toothy smile.
Barely five minutes later, the youngest member of Team USA was all business. Her double-twisting Yurchenko vault — basically a roundoff onto the block followed by a pair of twists — put the machine in motion. Raisman, who won three medals in London four years ago and seemed to be on the outside looking in as recently as this spring, followed with perhaps the finest vault of her long career. When Biles drilled her Amanar and put up a 15.933 — tied for highest of the night — the U.S. was already on top of the leaderboard and everyone else was playing for second.
Other highlights from Day 4 at the Rio Games:
MURKY POOL : At Maria Lenk Aquatics Center, there was more buzz over the color of the water than the diving competition. It had turned a murky green since Monday night’s events. Chen Ruolin and Liu Huixia didn’t seem to care about the color. They won the women’s 10-meter synchronized platform title to make China 3-for-3 in the competition so far.
SOUR SERENA : Williams shanked shots all over the court in getting upset by Elina Svitolina of Ukraine. The top-ranked American won’t get a chance to defend the gold she won in London. Williams looked out of sorts and irritated, accumulating 37 unforced errors. She had five double-faults in one game alone in the 6-4, 6-3 loss to the 20th-ranked Svitolina. Williams wiped her forehead, picked up her rackets and headed back quickly to the locker room. Svitolina, who had never before played in an Olympics, smiled and stuck her arms out in front of her, palms up, as if waking up from a dream.
ON THE PITCH : Catalina Usme beat U.S. goalie Hope Solo on a pair of free kicks to draw Colombia to a 2-2 tie with the United States. The first, in the 26th minute, was Colombia’s first ever Olympic goal, and first ever goal against the United States. Team USA still emerged at the top of Group G of the women’s soccer tournament and will play in the quarterfinals.
Host country Brazil played to a 0-0 draw with South Africa. The Brazilians had already secured a spot in the women’s soccer quarterfinals before their match. The team and star Marta have drawn more attention while Brazil’s men have struggled at the Olympics. The women’s team will face Australia in a quarterfinal match on Friday.
RUGBY STUNNER : Sonny Bill Williams was helped off with an ankle injury during New Zealand’s shocking 14-12 loss to Japan in its first game of rugby sevens. New Zealand is a 12-time world series champion and one of the top contenders for the first rugby medals awarded at an Olympics in 92 years.