A/N: And they just keep coming...
The first day of event finals had not gone badly for the Americans, with the girls picking up two more medals for their efforts; Simone had taken bronze on vault, while Madison had claimed a world title on bars in the most bizarre four way tie ever. She had shared her gold medal with the two Russians, Viktoria Komova and Daria Spiridonova, as well as Fan Yilin of China.
Had rankings not mattered and medals were awarded based on scores, JJ would have taken another silver medal in the bars final, but seeing as four gymnasts were above her rankings wise, she had left the final empty handed. But she wasn't discouraged; her bars score had drastically improved from her minor flub in the all-around final, and clearly she was still able to hold her own with the best of the best.
As for vault, she had not managed to scrape a medal out there either; Maria Paseka and Hong un-Jong both carried higher difficulty, while Simone almost always outscored her in execution on the event, meaning she had finished fourth overall. But again, she didn't find it discouraging. Rather, just something to work on for the next nine months in the lead up to the Olympics.
Now it was time for JJ and Simone to take on the second day of event finals.
Having waited patiently for her turn to come, JJ would be the last performer on beam. So far, Simone had led the pack, with Sanne Wevers of the Netherlands and Pauline Schafer of Germany hanging onto silver and bronze behind her.
Taking a deep breath to settle herself as her name was announced to the crowd, JJ presented to the judges. Readying herself for her mount, she narrowed her focus down onto the beam.
She wasted no time in mounting, her feet easily finding the surface of her favoured apparatus. Using her choreography to move slightly forward, she immediately swung back into a standing Arabian, landing it easily as if she were on the floor.
'Onodi... front aerial... front aerial,' she thought to herself as she worked through the motions of her routine. Not a wobble to be seen.
Some more dance, a half turn... followed by her front tuck to wolf jump connection, this time connected with no problems.
Breathing deeply, she settled herself before swinging back into her series, the hardest element of her routine.
'Flip... flip... layout FULL,' she said in her head, planting her feet down onto the beam without question.
Her few remaining dance elements were completed with ease and then it was just her dismount left to go.
'Just put it to your feet JJ,' she reminded herself. The arena was almost dead silent.
Flip, flip, and up she rocketed off the end of the beam, wrapping in her signature dismount so easily that she was able to completely stick the landing. The second she'd landed, her chest upright, the arena had exploded into applause as a huge smile crossed JJ's face.
She knew.
She was world champion yet again.
With their newest additions safely tucked in their backpacks, Simone and JJ had re-entered the arena just under an hour later to take part in the floor final to close off the 2015 World Championships.
It had been a bittersweet ending. As much as JJ had wanted to go out and perform well to make her dad proud, she was emotionally exhausted after the rollercoaster of a week she had endured. She was more than ready to go home and see her family again after so long away from them.
Simone was also not her brightest self. Under an immense load of pressure all year to repeat again as world all-around champion (which she had now done), she had spent most of the week in a more sombre mood than usual. But even since the all-around, when the pressure had since lessened, JJ had noticed Simone was not as chirpy as usual. Putting it down to being tired and ready to go home (as they all were), she had brushed it off.
The floor final had seen another 1-2 success for the Americans. Simone had taken her third gold medal of the Worlds, and her thirteenth World medal overall, repeating as the three time World champion on floor. With another stellar routine, JJ had been right behind her for silver, and Ksenia Afanasyeva of Russia, the 2011 World Champion on floor, had taken bronze.
And so it was that they had wrapped up their World Championships with a handful of medals to add to the United States' glowing resume. With it being the last Worlds before the Rio Olympics, talk had already started of what the USA had achieved all quad, and what they could be expected to achieve in the following year at the Games.
With her threepeats in Glasgow, Simone had, in three world competitions, netted herself thirteen medals, eight of them gold. She was clearly one of the best the United States had ever produced, and talk was already beginning of what heights the tiny powerhouse would soar to in Rio.
JJ, on the other hand, had smashed the domestic record for international medals, bringing her total up to 21 World and Olympic medals overall. She only held seven world titles to Simone's eight, but her two Olympic titles brought it up to nine, cementing her place as the continued most decorated gymnast from the United States.
Now, all they had left to do was head back home. And once they arrived home?
It was time to start preparing for the Olympic Games.
