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U.S. women's gymnastics may not be the lock for gold everyone predicted

TOKYO — Forty-one years ago a group of American college hockey players upset a legendary team of professionals from the Soviet Union at the Winter Olympics.

It was dubbed “The Miracle on Ice.” Perhaps you’ve heard of it.

It would be inaccurate, even insulting, to compare the 2020 Russian women’s gymnastics team to that old USA hockey crew. This is no rag-tag group of amateurs.

The Russians are among the finest in the world — on Sunday, Angelina Melnikova, Vladislava Urazova and Viktoria Listunova came in fourth, fifth and sixth in all-around qualifying at the Tokyo Olympics.