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United States women's national artistic gymnastics team

The United States women's national artistic gymnastics team represents the United States in FIG international competitions.

As of 2024, the U.S. team is the reigning World team champion and the reigning Olympic team gold medalists, with the five gymnasts nicknamed the "Golden Girls."

History

The U.S. women won the team competition bronze medal at the 1948 Summer Olympics. Afterwards, they did not win another Summer Olympics or World Championships medal until the 1984 when the Olympic team won silver. During that competition, Mary Lou Retton also became the first American to win the individual all-around gold medal. The Americans started consistently winning Olympic and World team medals in the early 1990s with future Hall of Famers Shannon Miller and Dominique Dawes. The 1996 Olympic team, known as the Magnificent Seven, was the first American team to win Olympic gold. An iconic moment in the sport's history came late in the competition, when an injured Kerri Strug stuck a vault to secure the title. After 1996, the team regressed for several years as their stars took breaks from competing.

Márta Károlyi headed the program after the 2000 Olympics, ushering in an era of success for the U.S. team as they became one of the most dominant countries in women's gymnastics. The U.S. team has medalled in every Olympics and Worlds since 2000. They won their first World gold medal in 2003. At the 2004 Olympics, they won the team silver, and Carly Patterson became the second American gymnast to win the individual all-around. The U.S. team continued their success in the next quad. They won another Olympic silver medal in 2008. Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson were two of the best gymnasts of their era and finished first and second in the 2008 individual all-around.

They won gold at the 2011 Worlds and then won gold at the 2012 Olympics by over five points. The 2012 team was nicknamed the Fierce Five and included Gabby Douglas, the first African American woman to win the Olympic individual all-around. In 2013, Simone Biles started her senior career and helped the U.S. team dominate the sport through 2016. In addition to the team gold medals, Biles won the individual all-around at the Worlds and Olympics for four straight years. The 2016 Olympic team, featuring Biles and veterans Douglas and Aly Raisman, was named the Final Five. They won the team competition by more than eight points.

Olympic Games

The USA Gymnastics women have won the Olympic Gold four times, in 1996, 2012, 2016, and 2024 Summer Olympics. These successes led to the nicknames Magnificent Seven, Fierce Five, Final Five, and Golden Girls, respectively. They won four silvers in 1984, 2004, 2008, and 2020[1] and three bronzes in 1948, 1992 and 2000.[2] The 2016 team name alluded to Márta Károlyi's final team to coach and that the team structure will be changed to four members beginning with the 2020 Olympic Games. The 1988 Olympic Games was the only year in which the team did not medal since its formation in 1982; they missed the bronze medal by one controversial deduction. Six American women have won the Olympic individual all-around title, including six consecutive titles from 2004–24: Mary Lou Retton (1984), Carly Patterson (2004), Nastia Liukin (2008), Gabby Douglas (2012), Simone Biles (2016), Sunisa Lee (2020), and Simone Biles (2024). The most decorated American gymnast at the Olympics, with eleven medals, is Simone Biles (7 gold, 2 silvers, 2 bronze).

World Championships

The United States women team is currently third in the all-time medal count for the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. The first American gymnast to win a medal at the World Championships was Cathy Rigby who won silver on beam in 1970.[3] The first female American gymnast to win a world title was Marcia Frederick in 1978 on the uneven bars.[4] The most decorated American gymnast at the World Championships is Simone Biles, who won 25 medals (19 gold, 3 silver and 3 bronze) from 2013 to 2019.[5] The United States won team gold in 2003, 2007, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2015, and 2015 .[6] Additionally, eight American women have won the individual World all-around title: Kim Zmeskal (1991), Shannon Miller (1993-1994), Chellsie Memmel (2005), Shawn Johnson (2007), Bridget Sloan (2009), Jordyn Wieber (2011), Simone Biles (2013-2015, 2018-2019, 2023), and Morgan Hurd (2017). Biles is the only American gymnast to win both the Olympic and World all-around titles.

Current roster

As of June 2, 2024:

Senior team

Junior team

Staff

Team competition results

Olympic Games

  1. ^ A team was named for the 1980 Olympic Games; however they did not compete as the USA boycotted[10]

World Championships

Names in italics are alternates who received a team medal.

Pan American Games

Pan American Championships

Junior World Championships

Names in italics are alternates who received a team medal.

Most decorated gymnasts

This list includes all American female artistic gymnasts who have won at least four medals at the Olympic Games and the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships combined.

Best international results

Hall of Famers

Nine national team gymnasts, one national team coach, and one official have been inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame:

See also

References

  1. ^ "ROC wins women's team gold medal, ending Team USA's decade long reign". International Olympic Committee. July 27, 2021. Archived from the original on July 27, 2021. Retrieved July 27, 2021.
  2. ^ "United States Gymnastics Women's Team All-Around Results". sports-reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 27 May 2015.
  3. ^ Van Deusen, Amy. "US Medalists at Worlds (Men's and Women's)". About Gymnastics. Retrieved 17 June 2015.
  4. ^ Riley, Lori (15 August 2010). "Frederick Changed Gymnastics, But Boycott Ended Olympic Dream". Hartfort Courant. Retrieved 17 June 2015.
  5. ^ "Stone gold: Biles wraps up worlds with four wins". ESPN.com. November 3, 2018.
  6. ^ "USA Gymnastics | U.S. Medalists at World Artistic Gymnastics Championships". usagym.org.
  7. ^ "Chellsie Memmel, Alicia Sacramone, Dan Baker to lead U.S. women's gymnastics program". Olympic Channel. May 26, 2022.
  8. ^ "[Annie] Heffernon is named vice president of women's gymnastics". USA Gymnastics. February 4, 2019.
  9. ^ a b "USA Gymnastics Women's Program Office Staff" (PDF). USA Gymnastics. Retrieved September 9, 2019.
  10. ^ "Olympic Games History - Women". USA Gymnastics.