A/N: This chapter is absolutely fucking huge, I'm not joking, it's like 15 pages long. I normally would include a skill guide in a chapter like this, but so many skills were mentioned and I'm not sure which ones I've done before, so if you want clarification on what a skill is, let me know and I'll be more than happy to clear it up for you!

"It is one of the most in demand events at the Olympics, and it could be historic! In 1996, there was a Magnificent Seven. In 2012, a Fierce Five. This group will make a name for themselves tonight, one way or the other. The United States has never gone back to back in the women's team final. We welcome you to the Olympic Arena. This group not only beats the competition in qualifying, they obliterated everybody by over eleven points. But tonight, at least in the beginning, everybody is at zero. The expectation is enormous, the pressure as well, as Marta Karolyi will say goodbye to USA Gymnastics after these Olympic Games. Since taking over at Athens 2004, she has created a behemoth of success, and if there's one thing we know, it's that this team is prepared for what they face tonight. Now, three gymnasts go on all four apparatus, and all the scores count"

Standing beneath the dazzling lights, the girls stood ready for their presentation to the crowd, looking down into the faces of the judges who were to decide their fate. Dressed in the navy shouldered white and red ombre leotard that called back to the Magnificent Seven from 20 years ago, they looked and felt like they were ready to win.

"On vault, representing the United States of America…"

"Let's meet Team USA! A returning Olympian. Three medals in London, of Needham, Massachussetts, Aly Raisman!"

"Alexandra Raisman!"

Beaming, Aly stepped forward and waved as the crowd gave a rousing cheer. The energy here was different to London, JJ felt. More… excited, almost like the whole thing was a big party.

"Also a returning Olympian, a staggering FIVE medals in London, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, better known as just JJ, Jennifer Jareau!"

"Jennifer Jareau!"

JJ stepped forward, a big smile gracing her face as the crowd cheered even louder for her. For a fleeting moment, she wondered if what had happened to her father was something known to the worldwide gymnastics community and beyond. It certainly sounded like an encouraging and supportive applause.

"Next to her, the greatest in the world, a three time champion from Spring, Texas, Simone Biles"

"Simone Biles!"

JJ wasn't surprised at all when Simone got the loudest cheer of the three. Surely everyone knew Simone by now. She was, after all, just two days away from her final coronation.

"16 years old, from Old Bridge, New Jersey, Laurie Hernandez!"

"Lauren Hernandez!"

Laurie had the smile of a child who'd been told Christmas was coming early as she gave a generous wave to the cheering crowd.

"And finally, also from Texas, in Dallas, Madison Kocian, from the same gym that gave us Carly Patterson, and Nastia Liukin"

"Madison Kocian!"

Madison was a little more subdued as she waved, still smiling, however. Her quiet nature even in the loudness of an Olympic setting was something that JJ quite honestly admired.

"Representing People's Republic of China… Mao Yi! Tan Jiaxin! Wang Yan! Shang Chunsong! And Fan Yilin!"

"Already feeling a serious nap coming on," Aly muttered to JJ as the Chinese girls finished waving to the audience. JJ snorted, stifling a laugh with the back of her tiger paw; only Aly could feel like a nap at the beginning of an Olympic final.

"On uneven bars, representing the Russian Federation… Angelina Melnikova! Daria Spiridonova! Seda Tutkhalyan!"

JJ frowned as the Russians stepped up out of order. Had the Rodionenkos, the Russian team coordinators, done something kooky and pulled the Olympic Champion from their bars lineup? Surely not.

"Aliya Mustafina! And Maria Paseka!"

"How long does this bit normally take?" Simone asked quietly as she leaned toward JJ. "I wanna run"

JJ chuckled. "Not long. I swear you have ants in your pants"

"I do"

JJ fought back more laughter. After the day she'd had before, she'd woken up feeling less than cheerful, but thankfully, the girls had been wonderful at cheering her up and keeping her mind focused on the final.

"Representing Great Britain… Ruby Harrold! Elissa Downie! Rebecca Downie! Amy Tinkler! And Claudia Fragapane!"

Up in the stands, JJ's personal cheer squad had surprisingly found themselves seated in the same block as Marta Karolyi, the alternates, and the rest of the Team USA staff. In the next block over, Sandy had spotted the Raismans, sitting in nervous anticipation.

They were just a few rows back, with a clear view of the entire arena. Will's dad was impatiently jiggling his leg, clearly wanting the competition to get underway.

"Dad, you're as bad as Simone," Will chuckled, reaching out to steady his father's fidgeting.

"On the balance beam, representing Brazil… Daniele Hypolito! Jade Barbosa! Flavia Saraiva! Lorrane Oliveira! And Rebeca Andrade!"

The cheer for the Brazilian girls was absolutely electrifying. JJ hoped the home crowd energy would help them to have an amazing final.

"Representing Germany… Elisabeth Seitz! Tabea Alt! Pauline Schafer! Kim Bui! And Sophie Scheder!"

One more apparatus. They were almost ready for warm-ups.

"On floor exercise, representing Japan… Aiko Sugihara! Mai Murakami! Sae Miyakawa! Asuka Teramoto! And Yuki Uchiyama!"

Nearly there.

"Representing Netherlands… Lieke Wevers! Celine van Gerner! Eythora Thorsdottir! Vera van Pol! And Sanne Wevers!"

Immediately afterwards, the chimes sounded to signal the start of the warm up for the first half of the rotation. Laurie and Madison quickly followed the Chinese team off the podium, while Mihai and Aimee quickly ascended to get the board ready for the girls.

The warmup seemed to speed by, and before too long, JJ was waiting by the steps for Aly to complete her vault.

"You got it Aly, let's go!" she called encouragingly as Aly got her green light and saluted the judges.

Wasting no time, Aly took off, powering down the runway towards the table. Her entry was solid, and her repulsion from the vault was strong. Even better was the landing, nailed to the floor with only a hop to bring her feet together as she lifted her arms into the air. The applause was incredible, and JJ could hear Laurie and Simone yelling and cheering just down to her right.

Once Aly was down at the other end, JJ headed up the steps and out onto the lime green podium to await her green light.

"Now, if you haven't tuned in for gymnastics since the last Olympics in London, you might just recognize this young lady. She was a part of that historic gold medal winning team, and she also netted herself a further four medals; gold on the beam, silver on floor, and bronze in both the all-around and uneven bars. She has grown quite a bit since London, not so much in height, but definitely in character and confidence, and her gymnastics is just incredible to watch now. Four years ago, we wouldn't have picked her as one of the best all-arounders in the world, but she has firmly cemented herself as the best behind Simone Biles since then. How great do you think it is that she's here tonight, Nastia?"

"Oh, I think it's incredible, I mean, what Aly has done is amazing as well, but for JJ to not really take a break after London, dive straight back in, and actually get better rather than tiring out, well… that's almost unheard of! But she's had a pretty rough year, what with her dad passing away the day after the Olympic team was named, so it's actually just really nice to see her up there, looking confident, smiling, and enjoying this moment with her team, I think she's very brave"

Her green light flashed, prompting her to immediately swing her arms into a salute. Adjusting her wrist guards once more, she lined herself up with the coloured marker at the end of the runway.

Springing off the balls of her feet, she took off into a powerful run, spurred on by the cheers and screams of her teammates. Her roundoff onto the springboard led into a powerful block from the table. She seemed to hover for a moment, waiting for the second when her hands would completely clear the table, before wrapping into two and half tight, clean twists.

She found her feet beneath her to rapturous applause, and she couldn't help her smile as she turned and acknowledged the judges.

"Wow! That was seriously great!"

As great as her vault was, it had nothing on the greatness of Simone, who just minutes later, rocketed up into the air like the table was a launch pad, before landing with one hop to steady herself. And just like that, the USA had completed the first part of their bid for a back to back gold medal.

"Let's go Simone!"

As her younger teammate mounted the bars and kipped up to a tight handstand, JJ was watching on somewhat anxiously.

First came a Weiler kip. Almost straightaway, Simone balked as she was coming back up into handstand, but she just as quickly muscled it back into her control.

"Nice!"

After that, the rest of the routine was a breeze for the young Texan, who sailed it all the way through to a stuck landing on the dismount, her smile as bright as the lights as she saluted.

Because she was next, JJ didn't have a lot of time to celebrate Simone's solid routine, but she had just enough time to give her a quick hug, accompanied by a high five before she made her way up the podium.

Due to the rule that only two coaches were allowed on the floor at any one time during the team final, and one of them had to be a woman, JJ had gone through vault, and now bars, without Nick. Aimee was the one helping her prepare the bars for her routine, while Laurent was coaching Madison through her preparation down on the sidelines. After bars, Laurent would retreat to the holding area, allowing Maggie out to help Laurie through beam. Once Laurie's routine was done, Nick would finally take the floor to be there for JJ's beam routine.

Sandy watched on nervously as JJ saluted the judges. Of all the things JJ did in gymnastics, it was always bars that made her the most nervous. It was, after all, the event where she had had the nastiest falls in a competition setting. Shuddering as she thought back to the previous year when she'd almost broken her nose on the high bar, she quickly shook it off.

"Now, JJ used to be considered weak on the uneven bars, but she's actually not so anymore… let's see what she can do here"

Taking a deep breath to settle herself, JJ habitually adjusted her grips once more before setting her feet together, swinging down, and jumping into her glide kip to mount the bar.

"Come on girl, you got it!" came Simone's voice from the sidelines as she worked her way through her Shaposh transition to the high bar.

"Catch it! Nice!"

Next, her toe on full. By now, the crowd was ramping up for the Brazilians on floor, and she had to keep a clear head. Her momentum carried her into the downswing, a stalder swing, and the upwards release over the bar.

"Push it! Yeah!"

Catching the piked Tkatchev, she connected it straight into her Pak salto, following it up with an immediate stalder swing. It was here she had her first minor break, a slight loss of momentum as she muscled her way back to the top of the bar. One and half pirouettes, a little late to finish, shooting to the high bar.

"She'll get a few small deductions there, that cast was a little muscly, and then she kind of fell out of that pirouette, but nothing too major"

Half turn... front giant... half turn into stalder with a full turn... giant swing...

With a satisfying ping from the high bar, she flicked off into a soaring full twisting double layout, landing it easily on her feet without so much as a flicker on the landing, sending the arena into a tumultuous uproar.

"She has gotten SO good on bars, unbelievable, that was AMAZING!"

Beaming from ear to ear, she grabbed her spray bottle from the chalk bucket, before heading to the steps where she was promptly ambushed in a hug by Aly, Laurie, and Simone.

"That was so good, you're so good!" Simone shrieked, making JJ laugh as she hugged them all in return. Over Aly's shoulder, Aimee gave JJ a thumbs up and a grin, before turning to cheer on Maddie as she prepared to start her routine.

Immediately turning their attention back to their teammate, they cheered as she mounted the apparatus to start the routine. As one of the four reigning World Champions from the previous year, they knew it was going to be a good routine.

Somewhere up in the stands, Cindy Kocian had risen from her seat, leaving her husband and son alone in their seats as she made her way back up the stairs. She stood by the door to exit the arena, unable to bring her eyes towards the apparatus on which her daughter was about to take the stage. She could hardly watch Madison compete live; it was too nerve wracking.

"Come on Maddie!" JJ yelled encouragingly, absently unbuckling her own grips as Maddie swung out of her Chow half and up towards the next skill. Laurent moved into place to spot her through her Jaeger, which she inevitably did no problems, prompting her coach to clap proudly as he quickly walked away and left the podium.

"Oh... gorgeous!"

Triumphantly, Maddie flipped through her dismount.

"Dismount, done in combination, FULL TWISTING DOUBLE!"

She stuck it cold to the floor, sending the already riled crowd into an explosive applause.

"YEAH!" JJ and Aly cheered as Laurie let out an appreciative 'WOOP!'

"Wow! That is why they put Madison Kocian on this team!"

Running over to the edge of the podium as Maddie headed over towards them, Aly reached up, half lifting her teammate down. They were all smiling, knowing their competition was going incredibly well as they headed over to grab their bags. Bars and vault were always the first rotations to finish, so now they just had to wait for the remaining gymnasts to compete bars and floor, before they headed around to tackle the ever nervy balance beam.

And even more pressure packed was the fact that Marta Karolyi was sitting right in front of it.

The incredible thing about the depth of their team was that, even as the reigning bronze medallist on the piece, Aly was not competing beam in the team final.

Instead, she took up residence beside the podium, calling out encouragement to her young teammates as they warmed up. When Laurie took the stage just moments later, all it took was a look in Aly's direction, and a smile and nod from her team captain to help her stay calm, focused, and relaxed.

"And now the effervescent Laurie Hernandez. A year ago, would you have said she'd be here?"

"Well, I... she was definitely on my radar, but there were a number of people that could have jumped into that spot"

Saluting, Laurie looked down at the beam. Holding her hands just centimetres above the suede, she took a deep breath.

'I got this,' she mouthed to herself, before mounting the apparatus.

Down on the sidelines, JJ was focused on working her own routine. This was her last routine of the night, and she wanted to make it a good one. She'd happened to spot her family sitting a few rows behind Marta, and while normally that would have made her nervous, today, it helped her to calm down. Their love and support was like a strong burst of energy emanating from the crowd, and she was quietly glad they would experience what was hopefully a great routine front and center.

She listened as the cheers for Laurie faded into cheers for Simone, right as Nick finally rejoined her on the floor.

"How you feeling?" he asked warmly as they waited by the steps.

"Pretty good. Not too nervous," JJ replied truthfully. "My mom and everyone are sitting literally right up there"

Nick chuckled. "Don't do an Aly and look up mid routine and spot your mom"

JJ laughed. "Promise I won't"

"Hahaha, what Nick is referring to... at the 2012 Nationals, Aly had a break in the middle of her routine, and afterwards, she said to her coach Mihai Brestyan that she looked up and saw her mom. Mihai's response was 'well don't look up next time'!"

"You've done really well so far. Mihai and I have been watching from the holding area. Just remember to have fun out there, ok kiddo? You of all people could use some"

Smiling, JJ gave her coach a quick squeeze as Simone punched out an amazing dismount, like a full stop at the end of a wonderful sentence. Cheering for her teammate, she clapped as she ascended the podium, Nick just two steps behind her.

"Next up is the reigning World and Olympic Champion... she holds FOUR consecutive World titles on this apparatus, and if you've never seen her on beam before, well, you're about to find out why she holds those titles. She's also qualified first into the beam final, Simone is nipping at her heels a little, but she did have a few pauses and a minor wobble in qualifying, so a clean routine could net her USA's first ever repeat event title at the Olympics!"

"But, Tim, let's focus on today. The beam final isn't until Monday"

"Right, of course"

"What are you thinking?" Simone giggled, nudging Aly's side as the older girl gazed thoughtfully towards JJ.

"How we have barely gotten Rio underway and I already want nothing more than for JJ to win beam in Tokyo"

Simone laughed, leaning against the podium beside Aly as JJ prepped for her routine.

"Alright, she's got a green light, let's see what she's going to contribute to their score"

Acknowledging the judges, JJ took a deep breath as she narrowed her gaze down onto the beam.

With a carefully measured run, she punched off the springboard and into a pike front somersault, her feet landing securely on the end of the beam.

"Nice JJ, come on!"

Knowing she had enough room behind her, she swung immediately down into her standing Arabian, landing it only about half a foot from the end of the beam.

"Phwoar, that was some serious confidence she had right there, she didn't even LOOK to see where she was standing!"

Working rhythmically, she executed her Onodi, easily connecting it to two front aerials, amongst impressed applause. No hesitation followed before she took two steps into a front tuck, landing it once again, very close to the end. With a slight adjustment, she did her wolf jump; the jump was more out of habit, since she already knew it was a questionable connection from the second she had adjusted her feet.

Now the most impressive part.

"I don't think I can look," Will moaned, half burying his face in his hands. Beside him, Sandy was doing the exact same thing; she wanted to close her eyes, but she also couldn't look away.

Flip, flip, layout full, done almost completely stretched out, and with only a tiny step back to steady herself.

"That is my favourite skill ever that she does, she's just so good at it!"

The hardest part was over. She almost dared to smile through her leap series, and her turn, but she kept her game face on to the very end.

"Even Simone can't match how well JJ does this dismount"

She was tumbling seamlessly across the beam.

"Watch the punch off the end!"

She felt as though she was flying, the dismount coming so easily that she found her feet on the ground without even a twitch of movement. The uproarious applause that erupted from the block immediately to her left made her laugh as she saluted the judges and left the podium.

"So proud of you!" Aly gushed, throwing her arms around her friend as they all clamoured to hug her.

"Well, Jennifer Jareau certainly knows how to take a year of heartbreak and bad luck and turn it into something AMAZING, because that was one of the best beam routines I've seen her do!"

"Three events down, one to go, and it's looking like a shoo in for Team USA. They're already out in front, we just have to wait and see what floor holds for them"

The atmosphere was a very different one to London as Laurie stood at the edge of the floor awaiting her turn to go.

Standing with Maddie and Simone, JJ already knew that as long as the three girls put their routines to their feet, they would win, and by a healthy margin at that. The nerves, the anxiety, the feeling that it was all going to fall out from under them that had consumed her in London, it just didn't exist today. Even so, she didn't really want to get too far ahead of herself; the girls still had to compete.

If they had had any remaining competition from China, it had disappeared with their second competitor on floor; Mao Yi had punched way out of bounds and fallen on her first pass, taking whatever slim chance they thought they might have had for gold away, and opening the door for Russia to take their once previously guaranteed silver.

"On floor, representing the United States of America, Lauren Hernandez!"

"So this will be Laurie's final appearance at the Olympic Games, unless JJ or Simone get injured before the beam final… you know, as wonderful as Laurie is on floor, I can't quite work out why Marta chose her routine over JJ's half a point stronger routine"

"Marta did actually say yesterday that JJ's had a couple of rough days since they arrived in Rio, and she doesn't want to add to the stress she's experiencing by having her compete the all-around three times in five days. Which is fair enough, and honestly, when you qualify by over eleven points to the final… you have room to play around. Half a point isn't that important from that perspective"

Laurie's music filled the arena, seeming to bring the bubbly teenager to life as she pranced through her opening choreography. Maggie was down on the sidelines, watching with eagle eyes as Laurie took off into her opening tumbling pass, a speedy double layout.

"Nice Laurie, come on!" JJ called out, clapping encouragingly as she moved a little closer to the floor podium.

Her second pass, a double Arabian to stag jump, seemed to soar through the air, eliciting a huge cheer as she landed it easily in the corner. From there, the music became even more energetic, as did Laurie's choreography. Full of spunk and sass, she danced her way to the next corner, ready for her third line.

It was on Laurie's punch front at the end of the line that JJ nearly had a heart attack, even though a fall at this stage wouldn't have hurt them. Coming up somewhat short, there was a split second where it looked as though Laurie was going to fall, but through the training and the muscle power she had under her belt, she pulled it back up to her feet with no trouble.

By the time she landed her fourth line a few moments later, she was beaming, clearly enjoying and relishing everything the Olympic experience had to offer. With an energetic flourish, she struck her final pose, unable to wipe the smile off her face as she held it for a moment under excited applause.

"I think they're running away with this gold medal"

"I'll tell you what, if you're not smiling right now, I just don't get it, my cheeks are sore right now!"

As Laurie reached where they were standing, JJ broke into a half run, laughing as she threw her arms around her young teammate.

"It was so good, good job! It was awesome!" she gushed, making Laurie smile even bigger.

Aly was already waiting to go, calmly stretching as she waited for her signal.

"You know your country is good on floor when the reigning Olympic Champion is going SECOND to last"

"Come on Aly!" Will called out from the stands, followed by a cheer from Aly's brother over in the next block.

Laurie's score came up not too long after, a solid 14.833 to get the ball rolling on floor for Team USA.

"On floor exercise, representing the United States of America, Alexandra Raisman!"

With the carriage of a veteran competitor, Aly stepped out onto the floor after acknowledging the judges, and immediately took up her starting pose.

Her music started, shrill and elegant as she moved back into the corner.

And then she was off, the signature tumbling pass moving seamlessly across the floor. Whereas in London, she had omitted the punch front after missing it in warm-ups, this time, it was a country mile up in the air.

"Yeah Aly, come on!" Simone yelled as she and the girls watched from the sidelines.

The rest of the routine was so typically Aly, every tumble landed easily and cleanly on the floor. The music inspired the crowd to clap along, and by the time she was racing down the diagonal for her final pass, it seemed the entire arena was at her back.

"YEAH!" JJ yelled triumphantly. Simone had since disappeared, going to wait by the stairs seeing as she was last to go.

A flick of the wrist brought Aly into her final pose, a proud smile on her face as she straightened up and saluted the judges. Waving to the cheering crowd, she fought to catch her breath as she descended the stairs, high fiving Simone as she went.

"Ugh," she groaned, grinning as she reached her remaining teammates. "I'm tired"

JJ laughed, draping an arm around her shoulders.

"Your Arabian was so high," she chuckled.

"I know, I thought I was gonna go out of bounds, I was like EEE!" Aly exclaimed, inciting laughter in her team.

"Who knows how many little girls right now wanna be Aly… or JJ, or Madison, or Simone, or Laurie?"

"I think they wanna be all of them!"

"It's inspirational stuff"

"We've done amazing today, good job guys," Laurie said happily, patting JJ and Madison on the shoulders.

"You too," Madison said sweetly, smiling as she turned back to face the floor, where Simone was now waiting to go.

"So it's a 15.366 for Aly Raisman… and… oh my god… hahaha… Simone Biles needs to score a HUGE 6.358 to clinch the gold medal for the USA"

"I think she'll double that for sure"

"I think she'll come closer to tripling it"

"On floor, representing the United States of America… Simone Biles!"

After saluting, Simone practically skipped out onto the floor with a neat wave of her arm, taking up her starting pose with a smile larger than life itself.

And then, moments later, the final 90 seconds began.

Electric and exciting, Simone took the floor with ease, immediately captivating the entire arena with her Brazilian carnival themed routine and music.

As it thumped out of the loudspeakers with intensity unbeknownst to any of the other gymnasts, she seemed to launch across the floor into an easy full twisting double layout, landing it on her feet with a defiant THUNK to much applause.

"Come on Simone, you got it!" the girls cried, moving closer and closer to the podium the further through the routine she got.

She hopped, skipped, and jumped through her lively choreography, and then it was time for her signature skill; the Biles, usually accompanied by a sissone at the end.

But the sissone never came. Not a big deal either way.

Executing the arm choreography in the corner to match the sharpness of her music, Simone whipped around and did an easy front aerial (her loophole to fulfilling the tumbling requirement), before taking the floor for her wolf turn.

She seemed to lose control for a moment at the end, prompting JJ and Aly to yell out simultaneously.

"Reign it in Simone!"

But like the pro she was, she pulled it under control, jumping onto her knees with a look of feigned surprise as the music cried 'OH!'

Rising to her feet, she seemed to bounce through her leap series, finding her way into the corner before taking off into a double double that hardly used the full length of the diagonal.

"One more Simone, you got it!" Laurie called over JJ's shoulder.

Still smiling as was her custom, Simone found her way for the final pass. She zoomed right across the floor, landing her full in to rapturous applause. Down on the sidelines, the girls were already screaming and cheering.

They'd done it.

"OH!" Simone's music finished, with Simone in her signature end pose as half the arena got to their feet in excited applause.

The entirety of JJ and Aly's families had leapt to their feet in excitement the second Simone hit the floor for her final pose. Will's heart was racing; he'd watched the 2012 team final live on the TV… but nothing compared to this moment, watching his girlfriend and her best friends make history for their country. The energy in the arena was unbelievable.

"Get the gold medals ready… AGAIN!"

Their joy was uncontainable as they swarmed Simone at the base of the steps. Amongst the victorious applause, they hugged each other tightly, jumping up and down in excitement, for there was absolutely no question this time around that the Olympic gold medal was theirs yet again.

JJ had to laugh as Laurie, screaming with joy, grabbed Simone in a tight hug.

"You're not even out of breath!" Aly exclaimed as she pulled Simone from Laurie's grasp, making them all laugh.

"USA! USA! USA! USA!" came the patriotic cheers from the American supporters in the crowd.

Huddling together as the arena fell into a semi hush, Simone looked pointedly at Aly.

"When do we say the name?"

The name… to match the Magnificent Seven, and the Fierce Five. Ever since they had been named as the Olympic team, the five girls had mulled over what they wanted to call themselves. Simone had eventually come up with what they thought was the perfect name about halfway through camp, and together, they had decided to keep it a secret until the conclusion of the team final.

"After the score," Aly said, with all the sureness of a team leader.

They stood there, in a semi circle beneath the jumbotron, talking easily and calmly with each other as they waited for Simone's score.

"Gee, what a difference from 2012, hey? I remember JJ saying she felt like she wanted to throw up waiting for Aly's score!"

"So on one two three, we are the," Aly affirmed as they glanced between themselves and the scoreboard.

JJ's stomach was filled with butterflies, but whereas London's had been anxiety, these ones were pure unadulterated excitement. She looked across the arena, where she could see her family, and seeming to catch Will's eye, she gave them a small wave.

"Oh, come on!" Aly said jokingly in reference to Simone's pending score, making them all laugh again. "Let's move over here!"

"No wait, Aly, we have to get up here, we can see it here!" Laurie called as Aly started walking away from them. "See, right there!"

Looking up at the jumbotron, JJ felt incredibly impatient. Russia was still listed as being in first, and they were still listed as last. Why the judges had to take so long with the very last score, she'd never know.

"I'm so proud of all of you," Simone said as they got comfortable in a small group, despite being surrounded by almost every camera on the floor.

"Yeah, we killed it today!" Laurie exclaimed.

"You guys were awesome, so proud of how we did today," JJ said with a smile.

"Yeah, that was the like the best meet we could have had-"

Aly was cut off by the crowd starting to cheer again, and seconds later, they were jumping and screaming with joy once more.

RK - TOTAL

1 – UNITED STATES – 186.130
2 – RUSSIA – 176.688
3 – CHINA – 176.003
4 – JAPAN – 174.371
5 – GREAT BRITAIN - 174.362
6 – GERMANY – 173.672
7 – NETHERLANDS – 172.447
8 – BRAZIL – 172.087

After hugging and cheering with the crowd, the girls all climbed up onto the vacant end of the vault podium, waving to the rapturous arena. Up in the stands, their families were cheering until their voices were hoarse.

"There you have it, the United States takes gold by a staggering nine and a half points! Aly Raisman and Jennifer Jareau are now officially the first American gymnasts to go back to back gold in the Olympic team final!"

"Here, over here!" Aly said, pointing to an NBC marked video camera. The girls made haste in running over and huddling around it in a semi circle. Throwing their hands into the middle, they grinned.

"On three," Aly said. "One… two… three…"

"WE ARE THE FINAL FIVE!"

"Marta, we named ourselves for you… we're the Final Five!" Aly said to the emotional team coordinator who was now standing in the mixed zone, having run down immediately after the final score.

"The Final Five!" she shrieked, covering her face with her hands as she tried to hide her tears.

JJ found herself feeling a little teary as she stood back with an arm around Laurie's shoulders. Marta had nurtured and grown their program into the well oiled machine it was today. Leaving it had to be the hardest thing she was going to do, but JJ knew she and the girls could always be proud of having given her a victorious send off.

Gentle Brazilian music played throughout the arena as the Russian team accepted their hard earned silver medals. As opposed to the London team, who had been so bitterly disappointed in silver, this Russian team was all smiles on the podium, which JJ found incredibly refreshing.

They were dressed in the smart red and navy tracksuit, paired with green Nike sneakers, very similar to the ones they had worn in 2012. Even though thoughts of her dad had started to creep in, and she wished terribly that he was there, she couldn't fight away the smile on her face. They'd really done it. No matter how many times she had accepted an Olympic medal… she was about to accept one again.

"Gold medalists... and Olympic Champions!"

"Medalhistas de ouro ... e campeões olímpicos!"

"Médaillés d'or ... et champions olympiques!"

"United States of America!"

"Estados Unidos da America!"

Together, they stepped up onto the podium, waving as the crowd cheered ecstatically for the newly crowned Olympic team Champions.

The volunteer approached with the tray of gold medals, glinting beautifully under the lights of the arena. The IOC member presenting the medals approached, picking up the first one and turning to Simone, who beamed as she reached out to shake his hand.

"Well done, it was an incredible performance," he praised as he shook her hand, before lifting the green ribbon over her neck.

"Simone Biles!"

JJ was right next to Simone, who was now waving again to the cheers incited by her name, and the smile on her face seemed to be growing bigger as the older man lifted the next gold medal from the tray and turned back to her.

"You performed very well, congratulations," he praised, shaking her hand.

"Thank you," she said, beaming as she leaned forward to accept the golden prize.

"Jennifer Jareau!"

Turning and waving again to the crowd, she was filled with a sense of elation she couldn't describe. Looking down at the heavy gold disc hanging from her neck, she couldn't believe she really had done it again. It hadn't felt real when she'd finally made her second Olympic team, and it certainly didn't feel real now. But here it was.

The rest of the victory ceremony seemed to be a blur. She stood proudly with her teammates, one hand on her heart as their flag was raised to the sound of the national anthem. Deep down, a dull ache was building in her chest. She'd managed to fight it back throughout the final, because she had had the support and morale from her teammates to keep her spirits up.

From here on out though, it was individual. Every gymnast for themselves.

Later that evening, after a trip to NBC headquarters for an interview with Bob Costas, the girls finally returned to the comfort of their Olympic Village apartment. It felt like hours since they had left that morning. So much had happened.

Exhausted, and feeling like she was on the verge of teetering back into emotional territory, JJ had wrapped her medal up securely in one of her T-shirts, before tucking it into the bottom of her travelling backpack. They had been told they would receive wooden boxes for their medals in a few days, but for now, the t-shirt would have to do.

Even though it wasn't really that late by her own standards, she'd crawled into bed, Aly not too far behind her on the other side of the room.

And before her head had truly settled onto the pillow, she was fast asleep.