Nikkolas Smith - The Golden Girls of Rio

For details, contact the Special Sales Department, Sky Pony Press, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018 or . Sky Pony is a registered trademark of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc., a Delaware corporation. Visit our website at www.skyponypress.com. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file. Cover design and illustration by Nikkolas Smith Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-2247-7 Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-2248-4 Printed in the United States of America

We Are America! The girls were different in many ways, but they ALL had one thing in commonthey wanted to be the best. They understood that they must train, work hard, and never give up, in order to win! very YOUNG! and full of dreams. So how did it all begin? Across America, many young girls were discovering new sports and LOVING it. Lets follow the paths of the girls who won Olympic GOLD. But their golden path to the Olympics began many years ago, when they were Our story begins with two future champions, born three days apart. Young Katie Ledecky was born into a family of swimmers. Young Katie Ledecky was born into a family of swimmers.

Would she be as great as her big brother? She decided to swim, anyway. Not to prove anything. But simply because she loved to swim. And young Katie Ledecky, who grew up in Washington, DC. They were both so very full of energy and life! Once while on a class field trip, six-year-old Simone was introduced to the world of gymnastics. Her goal from that moment forward was to jump, flip, and fly higher than any boy or girl. Out west in San Jose, CA, little Michelle Carter was always looking up to her father. Out west in San Jose, CA, little Michelle Carter was always looking up to her father.

As a professional athlete and Olympic medalist himself, she followed in his footsteps, day by day. Simone Biles was now eleven years old and tumbling all over Texas, with the goal to one day compete for an Olympic gold medal. She met friends along the way who shared the same dream. Another Golden Girl was following in the steps of her older brothers, who were also swimmers. Simone Manuel started going to the pool with them in their hometown of Sugar Land, Texas. Quickly a coach saw her talent and began training her.

She was only three years old! Katie had grown much taller (and faster!) than most kids her age She started to meet many talented swimmers who were also very fast. Hi, Im Simone Manuel! One of these friends was Laurie Hernandez, a young gymnast from New Jersey! Like all the other girls, Laurie worked very hard to be perfect on all of her events. These girls knew it would be tough to rise to the top, but they remained focused. No matter what obstacles threw them off track, they worked hard to reach their goal.They worked hard to reach their gold. The girls were competing all across the nation and winning shiny awards. Now that they were the best in the country, it was time for the world stage the Olympics.

The girls proudly reached their destination. They were thrilled to see so many other USA athletes who also shared their golden dream. Michelle took a deep breath, and launched her shot into the sky Golden! The swim team raced Gold, gold, gold! The competition was strong. Butterflies were floating in their stomachs, as they realized that all of their training and competition led to this exciting moment. The gymnastics team performed Gold, gold, gold! The five girls received more gold medals than any other gymnastics team in the history of America.