Queen Simone Why gymnastics is no longer the preserve of teenagers

Towards the end of a delightful press conference after the United States's triumph in the gymnastics team final on Tuesday night, a familiar face took the microphone and asked the winning team a question.

- Tumaini Carayol

The surprise inquisitor was Aly Raisman, a three-time Olympic gold medallist, one of the greatest US gymnasts of all time.

The second and last Olympics of Raisman's career was Rio 2016 and it coincided with the emergence of Simone Biles. As the oldest in the team, Raisman's age and maturity earned her the affectionate nickname "Grandma" from Biles and their teammates. Their triumph in the team competition meant that Raisman was the oldest US gymnast to win Olympic gold in history. She was 22 years old.

After holding that record for eight years, Raisman was on Tuesday demoted from first to the fourth on the list. This year's US team includes three women over the age of 22: the 27-year-old Biles, the 24-year-old Jade Carey and the 23-year-old Jordan Chiles. With Sunisa Lee also 21 years old, four of the five members of the imperious US team are over 20.

Over the last few Olympic cycles, women's artistic gymnastics has changed beyond imagination. After the emergence of the prodigious teenage gymnasts Olga Korbut and Nadia Comăneci in the 1970s, it was widely believed that female gymnasts peaked in their teenage years and as they continued to mature physically, the prospect of maintaining their complex routines was increasingly remote.