Simone Biles won her fourth gold medal of the 2016 Summer Olympics, while Christian Taylor repeated as men's triple jump champion.
Christian Taylor ended America's long national nightmare when he broke a day-long gold medal drought by taking first place in the triple jump. A few hours later Simone Biles did what she does best to ensure "The Star-Spangled Banner" wouldn't be a one-play wonder at the 2016 Summer Olympics on Tuesday.
Biles earned her fourth gold medal -- and fifth overall -- in the women's floor exercise, matching the haul she's earned in each of the preceding two World Gymnastics Championships. While world titles are all good and well, none of those came with a kiss from Zac Efron, so the prestige of the Olympic rings is very real. Aly Raisman, who would be an absolute marketing juggernaut if not for the presence of her pint-sized, gravity-optional teammate, took home her second individual silver medal in the event.
American male gymnastics couldn't touch the success of its counterparts, but Danell Leyva did his best to redeem the squad with a pair of silver medal performances on Day 11. Second-place finishes in the parallel bars and horizontal bar tripled his team's medal count for 2016 and closed out the only gymnastic events that actually matter.
These afternoon events gave way to a relatively quiet night for Team USA. Jennifer Simpson won the nation's first 1,500m medal by taking home bronze, but the rest of America's track and field athletes sputtered to go 0-2 at the podium for the Olympic Stadium's evening events. That included Oregon football player Devon Allen, who managed a fifth-place finish in the 110m hurdles despite being just 21 years old and spending his spare time as a wide receiver for a top 25 football program.
Fortunately, the U.S. is in good shape to pad its lead in the medal count in the following days. The women's volleyball team advanced to the semifinals after routing Japan in straight sets and now stands just two wins from claiming its first-ever gold medal. Their path got a bit easier when China overcame a raucous crowd to upset two-time defending Olympic champions Brazil. Team USA had previously outgunned the Chinese team in pool play in a 3-1 victory.
On the beach, Kerri Walsh Jennings will look to avenge her only loss in Olympic history. It may be worth the price of admission alone just to watch a pissed-off three-time gold medalist dismantle a team on her own. She'll compete for bronze on Wednesday night.
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