Biles earns Team USA's first ever gold medal on vault

© John Cheng

• Men's Results: Floor Exercise | Pommel Horse
• Women's Results: Vault | Uneven Bars
• Photo Gallery
• USAGym2016.com

RIO DE JANEIRO – 2016 Olympic all-around champion Simone Biles of Spring, Texas/World Champions Centre, won the USA’s first women’s Olympic vault gold medal at the 2016 Olympic Games, held at the Rio Olympic Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Biles is also the first American gymnast to win three gold medals in a single Olympic Games. In addition, Madison Kocian of Dallas, Texas/WOGA Gymnastics, won the silver medal for the uneven bars, and Alex Naddour of Queen Creek, Ariz./Team Hilton (USA Youth Fitness Center), earned the bronze medal on pommel horse.

Biles' first vault was a powerful Amanar, scoring a 15.900. Her second vault, a Cheng, earned a
16.033, giving her a 15.966 average for the gold medal. Russia’s Maria Paseka was second at 15.253, and the bronze went to Switzerland’s Giulia Steingruber (15.216).

Kocian posted 15.833 on the uneven bars to win the silver medal. Aliya Mustafina of Russia defended her 2012 title with a score of 15.900. Germany’s Sophie Scheder won the bronze with a score of 15.566. Gabby Douglas of Tarzana, Calif./Buckeye Gymnastics, placed seventh with a 15.066.

On pommel horse, Naddour scored a 15.700 to win the USA’s first pommel bronze medal since 1984 when Peter Vidmar and Tim Daggett won gold and bronze, respectively. Great Britain’s Max Whitlock won the gold medal with a 15.966, followed by teammate Louis Smith at 15.833.

In the men’s floor final, Jacob Dalton of Sparks, Nev./Team Hilton (University of Oklahoma), and Sam Mikulak or Newport Coast, Calif./Team Hilton (U.S. Olympic Training Center), finished sixth and eighth, 15.133 and 14.333, respectively. Great Britain’s Max Whitlock won the title with a 15.633, followed by Brazil’s Diego Hypolito (15.533), and his teammate Arthur Mariano (15.433).

U.S. scores for Individual Event Finals
Men

• Floor exercise: Dalton, 15.133; Mikulak, 14.333.
• Pommel horse: Naddour, 15.700.

Women

• Vault: Biles, 15.900 -1st, 16.033 -2nd, 15.966, average.
• Uneven bars: Kocian, 15.833; Douglas, 15.066.

Event highlights
Men

• Floor exercise
  • Dalton – opened with an Arabian double layout; whip, Arabian double pike; two-and-a-half, front full; and triple full dismount.
  • Mikulak – a two-and-half, double front; front full, Randi; one-and-half, Rudi; and a triple full dismount.
• Pommel horse
  • Naddour – opened with two scissors to handstand; single pommel spindles; Magyar, Sivado; handstand pirouette dismount.

Women

• Vault: Biles – Amanar, Cheng.
• Uneven bars
  • Kocian – toe-on Shaposhnikova, Pak, stalder Shaposhnikova-half; in-bar stalder-half, Jaeger; stalder full pirouette, tucked full-out.
  • Douglas – piked Tkatchev to Pak salto, Shaposhnikova half; closed routine with a double layout dismount.

Individual finals

• Aug. 15: men – still rings, vault; women – balance beam, Biles and Hernandez
• Aug. 16: men – parallel bars, Leyva, and horizontal bar, Leyva and Mikulak; women – floor exercise, Biles and Raisman.

Ways to follow the action
NBC is the broadcast and web source for coverage and news on the Olympic Games.

• NBCOlympics.com. NBCOlympics.com will carry live coverage of every gymnastics session as well as all sports, and maintain an archive for on-demand coverage. The gymnastics schedule is listed below.
  • Aug. 15, individual event finals, 1 p.m. ET
  • Aug. 16, individual event finals, 1 p.m. ET
• NBC. Gymnastics coverage is expected to appear in the primetime broadcast.
  • Aug. 14, individual event finals, 8 p.m. ET, NBC
  • Aug. 15, individual event finals, 8 p.m. ET, NBC
  • Aug. 16, individual event finals, 8 p.m. ET, NBC

USA Gymnastics and the United States Olympic Committee are also providing easy ways to follow the action from Rio.

• USAGym2016.com. Original stories, athlete bios, schedules, results and more are available at usagym2016.com.
• USAGym.org. The USA Gymnastics official website is a great source for information about the sport: latest news, the schedule of its premier events, athlete biographies, videos, photo galleries and more.
• TeamUSA.org. The U.S. Olympic Committee’s website will also be a good resource for information on the Team USA in Rio.
• Social Media. USA Gymnastics is providing live updates and exclusive content, including interviews and photos, on Facebook and Twitter (@USAGym).