A/N: Enjoy!

Men's floor was over, but the Brazilian crowd was still cheering ecstatically. Waiting in the hallway to be escorted out for the women's vault final, JJ and Simone had watched on as two of the male Brazilian gymnasts led the country to history. It had been an emotional final overall. Diego Hypolito, a long time member of the Brazilian national team, had won many floor medals at the World Championships, including two golds, but had never completed a successful routine at the Olympics to make the medal podium. In 2008 in Beijing, he had fallen on his final pass, finishing in sixth. Four years later in London, he had fallen again in the qualifying round and had failed to even make the final.

This time, he had landed on his feet, tumbling his way to a silver medal. Tears of joy had been streaking down his cheeks as he celebrated with sheer childlike joy. To top it off, his young teammate, Arthur Nory Mariano, had clinched bronze. As well as the two history making Brazilians, Max Whitlock of Great Britain had clinched the country's first gold medal in 108 years, making the podium worth triple the amount of celebration.

It was awe inspiring stuff. And now, JJ was feeling incredibly inspired and ready to compete as they headed out for the vault final, drums rapping around the arena with the subtle applause of the crowd

JJ was going to be competing first. She didn't know whether that made her feel better or more nervous as they reached the podium and followed the volunteer up onto the stairs.

She was wearing the blue ombre leotard with the red V emanating from the neck. She and Maddie had decided on it together so they would match for bars finals, as Simone had chosen to wear the red leotard JJ had worn for the all-around final. Whereas she had decided against it in a fit of frustration on Thursday morning, today, she felt beautiful in it.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the women's vault finalists!"

"Senhoras e senhores, os finalistas do vault das mulheres!"

Standing between the volunteer and the living legend herself, Oksana Chusovitina, JJ was already smiling.

"Representing the United States of America!"

"Representando os Estados Unidos da América!"

The cheering immediately wound up into an enigmatic roar, making JJ smile even wider.

"Jennifer Jareau!"

As she stepped forward and waved to the crowd, the applause was loud enough to drown out the rest of her name.

"In case you've missed the past few days in gymnastics, the Brazilian crowd here absolutely adores JJ because she won their hearts along with the Olympic all-around title on Thursday night!"

JJ stood patiently as the remaining seven finalists were announced to the crowd; Oksana Chusovitina of Uzbekistan, who was competing in her seventh Olympic Games. Oksana had first competed in Barcelona in 1992 where she won a gold medal with the Unified Team... two years before JJ was even born.

Next was Maria Paseka, the bronze medallist from London four years ago. She had delivered a strong Amanar in the team final to boost Russia up to the silver medal they hadn't been expected to get. Shallon Olsen followed, the young Canadian who was still gaining international experience, but was doing well to be in her first major final.

Hong Un-jong was announced next, the 2008 Olympic vault champion from the stiff refines of North Korea. JJ had heard whispers of her debuting a triple twisting Yurchenko, but was yet to believe it until she saw it. Next to her was Dipa Karmakar from India, the 2014 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist on vault, and the performer of the hardest vault in women's gymnastics, the Produnova. She herself was making history as India's first gymnast to make an Olympic final.

The last two included Giulia Steingruber of Switzerland, the three time European vault champion, as well as also holding all-around and floor titles for the same event. JJ had always liked Giulia; while the two weren't as close as she was with gymnasts like Ellie Black and Lauren Mitchell, they had always been friendly and conversational at meets they attended together. And lastly of course was Simone, who JJ hoped was going to win the final; her superior execution had always been coupled with lower difficulty, bringing her vault totals down below those of her competitors the entire quad. But finally, she had upgraded, and JJ hoped it would finally bring her the title she'd been chasing.

The chimes sounded and the other seven gymnasts left the podium, leaving JJ up with Nick to prepare the apparatus for her vaults.

Knowing Nick knew how to prepare it just right for her, JJ walked to the end of the runway, dipping her hands into the chalk bucket and dusting her hands with the white powder.

Adjusting her tiger paws as she turned to face the table, she took a deep breath, readying herself beside the runway as Nick adjusted the safety collar around the springboard one last time. With a thumbs up in JJ's direction to say the vault was ready, he hurried off the podium to wait by the table.

It took a little while before she received her green light, but finally the judges were ready to begin.

"Ok, so she's flashing a 6.3 difficulty on that screen just behind her, that means her first vault, the Amanar, is worth a maximum of 16.3 if she's absolutely perfect"

Saluting the judges, she stepped onto the runway, taking a deep breath to settle herself before she competed.

Swinging back, she took off at a run down the runway, building speed and momentum into the table. She hurdled forward, flipping seamlessly onto the springboard and then back onto the table. The block was strong, and this time, she pulled the twist around at the perfect moment. She landed the vault nearly perfectly, with only a slight shuffle of her feet to catch herself before she turned and saluted the judges again. The crowd cheered ecstatically for her, putting a grin on her face as she stepped off the landing mat.

"Great first vault, I think that's the best Amanar she's done all year!"

Nick was up on the podium almost immediately, giving her a high five as he headed over to readjust the board and collar.

"Really good! Remember with this one to anticipate the half turn and block really hard through your shoulders," he instructed. JJ nodded, walking back to the end of the runway, readjusting her wrist guards as she went.

"She's not the gymnast I ever would have considered to add a vault specialty in, but she just continues to surprise me, she's actually gotten very good on the event!"

"I never would have seen her being the Olympic all-around champion either, but she did that too"

"So her next vault is going to be valued at 6.0, still fairly difficult, especially for someone who's only been doing a second vault for about two years. It's a Yurchenko half on, front layout with a full twist off, the same vault that McKayla Maroney actually fell on in this final four years ago"

A short while later, her first score was flashed on the board at the end; 15.933.

"Wow, well I said it was the best Amanar she's ever done, and the score absolutely reflects that, that's the highest international score she's ever gotten!"

The green light flashed again, and she took a deep breath once more.

'Put it to your feet. Do it for McKayla,' she reminded herself.

"Come on JJ," Sandy muttered to herself up in the stands. Ever since the World Championships in Rotterdam six years ago, she had always been nervous watching JJ on vault. She'd seen a lot of less than great things happen to her daughter over the course of her career, but for her, the worst was still watching her lying on the landing mat sobbing in pain, knowing there was no way to get down there and help her or comfort her. She'd watched JJ's World Championship dreams fade away as soon as they'd begun, and it had broken her heart.

If only she'd known then just how far JJ would end up coming.

With what felt like twice the power, JJ rocketed down the runway. Her hurdle and turn onto the springboard was strong, and she knew when she got the half turn all the way around that she was going to have another solid vault.

Remembering not to anticipate a stick too much, her feet found the mat on the other side. She took it through her knees, straightening up almost instantaneously without so much as a flicker.

"That was REALLY GOOD!"

"That's my girl," Will said with a smile as he clapped and cheered with the crowd. JJ walked off the mat, getting a tight hug from Nick as she made her way down the stairs. A little way down the corridor at the side of the vault, she was wrapped into another hug by Aimee and then Simone.

"You were so good!" Simone said happily, walking alongside JJ as they headed back to their bags. Along the way, the other waiting gymnasts stopped JJ, hugging her and congratulating her on a strong competition.

After JJ had packed away her tiger paws and pulled on her warmup pants, her final total came up on the jumbotron in the middle of the arena.

15.799

"Good job kiddo," Nick said, beaming as he high fived her again. "And NBC said you'd never be a vaulter"

JJ laughed, settling back in her chair as the final got completely underway.

Oksana Chusovitina started off very strong, competing her namesake vault, the Chusovitina, but came unhinged on her Produnova (JJ was in awe of the fact that at 41 and as a mother, she was throwing the hardest and most dangerous vault in women's gymnastics). It had looked good in the air, but a bounce and forward roll out of the landing meant she wouldn't be making the podium unless there were multiple other mistakes.

Maria Paseka and Shallon Olsen followed. Maria's vaulting had definitely improved since the London Olympics, JJ had to give her that, but the landing deductions were rather significant, as were the form deductions through the air. Shallon was rather the same, although her execution could have used some significant work.

Hong Un-jong vaulted a clean Cheng, the same vault Simone would later do, but her attempt at the triple went haywire. Landing it completely underrotated, she bounced backwards and fell over, incurring an immediate point off for the fall. Later, the judges decided to downgrade the attempt to an Amanar, meaning the triple remained open for an opportunity to be named.

Dipa and Giulia both made strong bids for the podium, with Dipa showcasing a strong attempt at a Produnova, but in the end, with only Simone left to go, JJ was still in the lead, Giulia right behind her.

"You got it Simone!" JJ called out encouragingly as Simone took the stage.

And got it she did, for both of her vaults were as incredible as everyone expected them to be. Landed upright, with minimal landing deductions and superior power, she was very clearly going to be the Olympic Champion. Thrilled for her friend, JJ was the first one after Aimee to get to her, hugging her tightly as they laughed and smiled all the way back to their seats.

A couple of minutes later, the final totals were updated.

RK
1 – BILES. S – USA - 15.966
2 – JAREAU. J – USA - 15.799
3 – STEINGRUBER. G – SUI – 15.216
4 – KARMAKAR. D – IND – 15.066
5 – PASEKA. M – RUS – 15.033
6 – HONG. U – PRK – 14.900
7 – CHUSOVITINA. O – UZB – 14.833
8 – OLSEN. S – CAN – 14.816

"We are witnessing history today! Simone Biles is now the first American to win the Olympic vault title, and possibly even bigger than that... Jennifer Jareau is now the most decorated American Olympic gymnast! Move aside Shannon Miller, because JJ has a whopping EIGHT Olympic medals!"

"And she now has an Olympic medal in all six disciplines of artistic gymnastics! Two team medals, two all-around medals, and a medal on each of the individual events!"

"When was the last time someone did that?"

"We'll have to look it up!"

"1988, Daniela Silivas of Romania won six medals at the Seoul Olympics!"

She knew she'd made history. But like the Olympic all-around win, it didn't feel real.

Right now, she just wanted to celebrate with her friend.

A little under an hour later, she was walking back into the arena with an entirely new group of competitors. Her silver medal from vault was safely in her backpack, being watched over by Nick.

Uneven bars was a whole different ballpark. JJ was again the first competitor. Keeping her nerves in check was harder on bars than any other event, but she did it with a vengeance. Her routine was solid, fluid, and so clean, that when she dismounted, she could hardly believe how thrilled she was with the attempt.

She didn't watch much else of the final, only the routines from Maddie, and Aliya Mustafina, who both surpassed her score. Maddie had been the top qualifier, but Aliya increased her difficulty, slotting her less than a tenth above Maddie to take the top spot.

When all was said and done, JJ couldn't believe it. She'd won ANOTHER bronze medal on bars. She'd gone first and completely held her own, and she was so giddy with joy about it that she was nearly in tears.

RK
1 – MUSTAFINA. A – RUS – 15.900
2 – KOCIAN. M – USA – 15.833
3 – JAREAU. J – USA – 15.600
4 – SCHEDER. S – GER – 15.566
5 – SEITZ. E – GER – 15.533
6 – SHANG. C – CHN – 15.433
7 – LOPEZ. J – VEN – 15.333
8 – SPIRIDONOVA. D – RUS – 13.966

It had been an incredibly long day. It hadn't escaped her notice that she had widened her lead over Shannon Miller by another medal. Nine medals. It just didn't feel real.

"I'm so proud of you all!" Aly shrieked a couple of hours later when they arrived back at the Village. Simone was proudly sporting her gold medal, happy to have clinched herself the individual gold medal that had alluded her on Thursday evening.

"Can we just mention the fact that JJ just won her ninth Olympic medal today?" Laurie called out incredulously. "I couldn't believe it!"

"Honestly Laurie, neither do I," JJ replied, making them laugh. "I'll have to go home and lay them all out and just stare at them for like an hour before it starts to sink in"

After a shower, JJ collapsed into a beanbag in the living area as the girls all argued over what events they wanted to watch on the TV.

Her social media was going crazy, and now that she had a little bit of downtime, she wanted to check it. She had avoided checking her Twitter since Thursday, because the emotion of the all-around had been running extremely high, but now, she felt ready.

LaurennHopkins96 To recap, JJ is one the first American gymnasts to go back to back in the team at the OG, and she's also won a full set of individual medals including the AA gold. I love this girl so much!

Gymrudestics NINE MEDALS. NINE OLYMPIC MEDALS. JJ, ARE YOU EVEN HUMAN?

iamhalsey not normally a sports person but jj_jareau94 has had me glued to my screen all week, congratulations girl, you're killing it!

JJ's jaw dropped.

"What?" Maddie asked, having noticed.

"Halsey tweeted me," she said in disbelief.

"WHAT?!" the other four girls exclaimed.

She kept scrolling, liking every tweet as it popped up in her mentions.

Pink The Final Five are out here like American heroes, congratulations girls! Huge congrats to JJ, you're making your dad really proud girl!

Milliebbrown biggest congratulations to jj_jareau94 on her Olympic gold! You performed amazingly, well done!

Heady from the attention, JJ switched over to her Instagram after retweeting the celebrity tweets.

Immediately, she noticed something in her activity feed that she felt was worth taking a look at.

When she opened it, she found a picture of a little girl excitedly holding up a signed poster of JJ that she must have won at the National Championships one year.

terrislife
I don't know if you're going to see this jenniferjareau94, but I figured it's worth a shot. I cannot thank you enough for being so open on social media, in interviews, etc, about the tragedy your family faced this summer. First and foremost, I want to say how sorry I am for the loss of your father. Losing a loved one is one of the hardest challenges life can throw at us, and I'm truly sorry it happened to you. I'm writing this today because, whether you intended to be or not, when you so openly broke down in tears on Thursday night, you had an everlasting impact on someone very dear to me.

Five months ago, my husband passed away from complications of a chronic illness he had had his entire life. Together, we have a little girl, my seven year old princess, Brooklyn. Brooklyn is a gymnast here in Seattle, where she's lived her entire life. After she lost her dad, she was heartbroken. She refused to go to gymnastics, and even though she's a young child who still hasn't quite mastered the art of masking her emotions, she's become afraid of crying in front of other people.

On Thursday night, she watched you take the floor even though I'm sure you were missing your dad terribly. When you started to cry at the end of your routine, my Brooklyn started to cry as well. "She must be missing her daddy as much as I miss my daddy," was what she said to me.

The next morning, she asked to go back to gymnastics. Even in the short few days since then, I've seen her make a huge step forward. She's finding it easier to talk about how she's feeling, and she's even shown a little emotion in front of others.

Brooklyn idolises you JJ, and I can't thank you enough or commend you enough on being as brave and courageous as you've been. Thank you for being an amazing role model, not only for my Brooklyn, but for little girls and boys everywhere, gymnast and non-gymnast, grieving and non-grieving alike. Thank you for showing people everywhere that passions and hobbies such as sports can be healing. You truly are a special young lady, and I hope that the world grants you happiness and healing going forward. Know that you have all the love and support in the world coming from Seattle. Xxx Brooklyn and Terri.

"You ok?" Aly asked, having noticed JJ was now wiping away tears.

"Read this," JJ replied, handing Aly the phone. Aly took it, her eyes scanning the paragraph of text and growing awfully bright as they did.

"Oh JJ... that's so sweet! See, you really are making a difference to some people!"

Taking her phone back, JJ screenshotted the post, sending it in a text to her agent, Sheryl.

Can we do something for them? Tickets to the Kellogg's Tour? Something? I want to do something for her. Even if it's just meeting up with her.