COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The U.S. Women’s World Championships Team earned Best of October team honors for the Team USA Awards presented by Dow, the United States Olympic Committee announced today. Paralympic track and field athletes Rachael Morrison and Richard Browne picked up the individual honors. Due to the deadline for submissions, Team USA’s individual accomplishments from the World Championships will be included in the November voting.
The women on the U.S. squad are: Simone Biles of Houston/World Champions Centre; Gabrielle Douglas of Virginia Beach, Va./Buckeye Gymnastics; Brenna Dowell of Odessa, Mo./GAGE; Madison Kocian of Dallas/WOGA; Maggie Nichols of Little Canada, Minn./Twin City Twisters; Aly Raisman of Needham, Mass./Brestyan’s American Gymnastics; and MyKayla Skinner of Gilbert, Ariz./Desert Lights, who was the alternate.
The U.S. Women’s World Team made history by winning its third consecutive team title at the FIG World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. The U.S. has now won the last three women’s World Championship team titles, bringing Team USA’s total World titles to five, and the team gold medal at the 2012 Olympic Games. The U.S. women earned a total of 181.338 points en route to the gold medal, followed by squads from China (176.164) and Great Britain (172.380).
Rachael Morrison (Farmington Hills, Michigan.) took home two medals – including one world title – and broke a world record in her debut at the IPC Athletics World Championships in Doha, Qatar. She earned the silver medal in the women’s club throw F51 event with a personal best of 18.85 meters. Three days later, she captured the gold medal in the women’s discus F52 with a throw of 12.86, outdistancing the field by more than two meters.
Richard Browne (Jackson, Mississippi) posted two world record-breaking performances and captured his first individual world titles at the IPC Athletics World Championships in Doha. Browne won his first gold medal after breaking his own world record by more than half a second in the men’s T44 200-meter, clocking in at 21.27. Four days later, he reclaimed his world record in the 100 with a time of 10.61 to earn his second gold medal of the competition.
Each National Governing Body may nominate one female, one male and one team per discipline. An internal nominating committee selects five nominees from both the male and female categories, and three from the team category to advance to the voting round. Votes received from NGB representatives and select members of the media account for 50 percent of the final tally, with the other half determined by online fan voting via TeamUSA.org/Awards.
In addition to Dow, the presenting sponsor, the Team USA Awards are supported by DICK’S Sporting Goods, Kellogg’s, Samsung and USG.