For the first time since 1996, USA won Olympic gold in women's gymnastics.
The Americans lived up to the hype and then some, winning their first Olympic gold medal in women's gymnastics since 1996. The group's score was 183.596, five points ahead of Russia who won the silver.
During the last two Olympics, the US team has left without a gold but this year was different. The team led the competition from start to finish. The famous Magnificent Seven won it in 1996 and now the U.S. team is the reigning world champ.
In 2008 China won the gold but finished fourth in this year's event, failing to get a medal. Both the Russian team and the Chinese team who were at some points in the night in striking distance of gold, were crying as Americans celebrated their win.
The U.S. took the lead after the first of four events and then kept it.
Team USA started off strong on the vault with Jordan Wieber starting off with a score of 15.933. Gabby Douglas was next with 15.966. Yet it was McKayla Maroney's vault at 16.233 that really set the team on fire. She is the world champion on vault.
The U.S. was leading with China in second and Russia in third but the Chinese team made errors on the balance beam and floor exercise and lost their medal. The Russians however were steady throughout.
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