US Womens Gymnastics Takes The Mat To Compete For Team Gold

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Simone Biles from the U.S. performs on the vault during the gymnastics women's team final at the Summer Olympics on Tuesday in Tokyo. Gregory Bull/AP

Gregory Bull/AP

The U.S. women's gymnastics team is on the mat and looking to claim gold in the team final after some stumbles in the qualifier.

On Tuesday, after the first round for both the U.S. and the Russian team, the Russians were ahead by more than a full point.

Going into the Tokyo Games, the U.S. was the odds-on favorite to repeat its gold in the team event from 2016. But the team from Russia had the highest score in the qualifier.

That result was particularly surprising because, between the Olympics and the world championships, the U.S. women's team had not lost on the world stage since 2010 â€" more than a decade ago.

The U.S. team is led by Simone Biles, the greatest gymnast of all time. Biles had a rocky start on the vault tonight, scoring 13.766. In Rio, she scored 15.933 on the same apparatus.

Biles is facing huge expectations for her performance in Tokyo. "I know I brush it off and make it seem like pressure doesn't affect me but damn sometimes it's hard hahaha! The olympics is no joke!" she said on Instagram ahead of the team final.

The other three gymnasts on the U.S. team, Sunisa Lee, Grace McCallum and Jordan Chiles, are making their Olympic debuts. Each of them made errors in the preliminaries, too.

What to look for in the competition

There are eight countries competing. The U.S. and the team from Russia are the two favorites going in, but China is in the mix too, as is France could lead to a surprise.

There are four events in the team competition: the vault, the balance beam, uneven bars and the floor exercise.

In each of those events, three gymnasts from each country will compete. Each score will count and be added to the overall tally.

For Team USA, Simone Biles and Grace McCallum will compete on every apparatus. Sunisa Lee will do the balance beam and the uneven bars and Jordan Chiles will do the floor exercise and vault.

In gymnastics, the scores are a combination of difficulty and execution. It's important to execute jumps and routines cleanly â€" but also add in layers of difficulty, something Biles specializes in.

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