It's a shame NBC can't air it live, which is where I watched the whole thing. You have a marquee sport, you have the best gymnastic team in history, with possibly the all-time best gymnast, performing for the Karolyis who are retiring, which could mean the end of US gymnastic dynasty, and you DON'T air it live?? Sad. Yes, I know streaming offers it live, but those who don't have TV plans can't watch streaming. Which means NBC treats it as a second priority, and that's a shame.
Yes, they are great. You would think the Olympics would schedule gymnastics for primetime when they know it is the most popular sport, but I guess it may not be as popular in countries other than the US and China, and since the whole world watches the games, they have to try to make it work for everybody.
And I think Aly Raisman is one of my new crushes. 😆
Technically they did schedule it for primetime, but it was heavily edited and the last half of the team final didn't air until like 11pm because NBC thought it would be a good idea to interrupt the gymnastics team final to show swimming semi-finals for 2 hours.
you have the best gymnastic team in history, with possibly the all-time best gymnast
For those of us old enough to remember watching Nadia Comenichi, Olga Korbit and Cathy Rigby, the hype about this team being the best in history is getting tiresome. Forty years ago the routines were more complex, more fluid and better executed. Rarely did you see anyone fall off of equipment or step out of bounds. I converted the scores back to the old system, which makes it obvious nobody is even close the scores we saw in 1972 and 1976.
Women's All-Around:
Vault: Aly Raisman USA 9.59 Simone Biles USA 9.734 Wang Yan China 9.208
Uneven Bars: Shang Chungsong China 9.126 Aly Raisman USA 8.854 Simone Biles USA 9.296
Balance Beam: Aly Raisman USA 9.177 Simone Biles USA 9.353 Aliya Mustafina Russia 9.063 Seda Tutkhalian Russia 8.519 Rebeca Andrade Brazil 8.662
Floor Execises: Aliya Mustafina Russia 9.107 Seda Tutkhalian Russia 7.03 Aly Raisman USA 9.297 Simone Biles USA 9.484
Women's Team:
Vault: Laurie Hernandez USA 9.557 Aly Raisman USA 9.714 Simone Biles USA 9.775 Mao Yi China 9.388 Tan Jiaxin China 9.346
Uneven Bars: Shang Chunsong China 9.247 Fan Yilin China 9.895 Simone Biles USA 9.193 Gabby Douglas USA 9.555 Madison Kocian USA 9.541
Balance Beam: Aly Raisman USA 9.203 Laurie Hernandez USA 9.288 Simone Biles USA 9.273 Fan Yilin China 9.187
Floor Exercises: Shang Chunsong China 8.964 Mao Yi China 8.047 Laurie Hernandez USA 9.27 Aly Raisman USA 9.313 Simone Biles USA 9.405
Individual Events:
Vault: Oksana Chusovitina Uzbekistan #1 8.784 #2 9.208 Average 8.996 Wang Yan China #1 9.291 #2 9.341 Average 9.316 Guiilia Steingrrauber Switzerland #1 9.588 #2 8.43 Average 9.509 Dipa Karmakar India #1 9.29 #2 8.98 Average 9.135 Maria Paseka Russia #1 9.309 #2 9.35 Average 9.33 Simone Biles USA #1 9.76 #2 9.78 Average 9.77
Uneven Bars: Gabby Douglas USA 9.131 Aliya Mustafina Russia 9.464 Madison Kocian USA 9.48 Sophia Scheder Germany 9.377
Balance Beam: Fan Yilin 8.896 Isabela Onyshko Canada 8.323 Simone Biles USA 8.929 Sanne Wevers Netherlands 9.317 Catalina Ponor Romania 8.861 Laurie Hernandez USA 9.349 Marine Boyer France 9.068 Flavia Saraiva Brazil 8.916
Floor Exercise: Mai Murakami Japan 8.916 Wan Yan China 8.008 Erika Fasana Italy 9.027 Amy Tinkler Great Britain 9.106 Simone Biles USA 9.447 Aly Raisman 9.337 Vanessa Ferari 9.059
If you say 40 years ago the routines were more complex then you haven't been paying attention. Today's routines are becoming exceedingly difficult in all apparatuses with every passing year. Just compare the two routines below. Nadia's 4-decade-old floor routine could be performed by today's junior gymnasts: