Simone Biles is the gymnastics gold standard, Aly Raisman is the glue

With Simone Biles all-but-perfect performance in the Rio Olympics, she’s cemented herself as arguably the greatest gymnast ever. Between her results across the four all-around apparatuses and the last few years tearing through international gymnastics competitions, Biles is operating on a level in her sport equaled only by the world’s best across all athletics. Yes, she’s that special.

Unfortunately, lost in all of this, is the extremely talented and accomplished Aly Raisman, who returned for her second Olympics, not an insignificant accomplishment on its own. Raisman’s Rio performance included enormous contributions to Team USA’s team all-around gold medal and an outstanding showing in the individual all-around. A showing that, in a year without the brilliance of Simone Biles, would have otherwise had her in gold atop the podium.

This is all to say that the women of American gymnastics are operating on a level that’s not only unmatched internationally, but on a level that’s historically impressive.