RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – Simone Biles and Aly Raisman average 4-foot-11 in height, but they cast a very long shadow on the medal podium.
The American gymnasts finished one-two in Tuesday’s floor exercise at the Rio Olympics. Biles provided a dazzling performance in capturing her fourth gold medal of the games. Her five total medals tie the most for an American female gymnast in a single Olympics, and her four golds match an Olympic record shared by four others.
Biles posted a score of 15.966, moments before Raisman came away with her second silver and third medal of the Rio Games. Raisman was second in the all-around to Biles last week after grabbing gold in the team event.
The medals gave the American women nine during the meet, the most ever by the U.S. at an Olympics.
Elsewhere at the Summer Games:
– American Danell Leyva has earned the silver medal in men’s parallel bars, finishing behind Oleg Verniaiev of Ukraine. Verniaiev has won two medals in these Olympics.
– Runner Jenny Simpson is the first U.S. woman to medal in the 1,500 meters. She finished third in four minutes, 10.53 seconds, about a half-second ahead of teammate Shannon Rowbury.
– Team USA’s Caleb Paine has won the bronze medal in Finn class. It’s the first sailing medal for the United States at the Rio Games.
– The U.S. racked up two medals in the men’s triple jump. Christian Taylor successfully defended his title, while teammate Will Claye finished second for the second consecutive Olympics.
– Tori Bowie of the United States won her heat in the 200 meters after claiming silver in the 100 on Sunday. Dutchwoman and world champion Dafne Schippers won a high-powered heat with 100-meter champion Elaine Thompson of Jamaica.
– Americans Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross have been beaten by Brazil in the beach volleyball semifinals. Walsh Jennings is a three-time Olympic gold medalist who had never lost a match in the Summer Games.
– The U.S. women’s volleyball team has reached the semifinals by beating Japan, 25-16, 25-23, 25-22. The American squad has dropped just five sets all tournament.
– The U.S. women’s basketball team has cruised into the semifinals by blowing out Japan, 110-64. Maya Moore and Diana Taurasi each scored 19 points as the Americans rolled to their 47th straight win. The U.S. men play their quarterfinal game Wednesday versus Argentina.
– The United States women’s field hockey team placed fifth, the program’s best finish in 20 years. The Americans lost their quarterfinal match to Germany and their final ranking is based on their second-place finish in pool play. The Americans also placed fifth at the 1996 Games in Atlanta.
– As expected, Usain Bolt has advanced from his preliminary heat in the 200 after capturing gold in the 100 on Sunday. The 200 semifinals are set for Wednesday, with the final on Thursday as Bolt seeks his eighth Olympic gold medal.
– Canadian Derek Drouin cleared 2.38 meters on his first high jump attempt to win the gold medal.
– The youngest U.S. track and field Olympian since 1972 did not advance to the final of the women’s 400-meter hurdles. Seventeen-year-old Sydney McLaughlin was fifth in her semifinal, finishing in 56.22 seconds.
– Darya Klishina has reached the final in the women’s long jump. Klishina is the only remaining track and field competitor from Russia after all 67 others were banned due to evidence of systemic doping.
– The IOC has stripped Russia of its gold medal in the women’s 4-by-100-meter relay from the 2008 Beijing Olympics after one of the runners tested positive in a reanalysis of her doping samples. Belgium stands to be upgraded to gold, with Nigeria moving up to silver and Brazil to bronze.
– The United States continues to lead all medal categories with 28 gold, 28 silver and 28 bronze. The 84 total medals are 33 more than runner-up China. Britain is second with 19 gold medals.
