The U.S. women's gymnastics team blew away the competition and won a gold medal for a second straight Olympics, while Russia bested China in a surprise development and took silver.
Led by phenom Simone Biles, the American team in a closely watched competition on August 9 won with a huge 8.209-point lead over Russia, which barely squeaked out a win over China with scores of 176.668 and 176.003, respectively.
Russia's good showing came despite booing from the audience, a reminder of the nation's massive doping scandal that has overshadowed Russian participation at nearly every event in Rio de Janeiro.
Vasily Titov, the president of the Artistic Gymnastics Federation of Russia, told TASS that the Russian team got lucky when a top Chinese gymnast fell during her floor exercise.
"To be honest, we did not expect silver, rather a bronze medal," he said.
