Simone Biles leads a talented American women's gymnastics squad into team competition at Rio's Summer Olympics Tuesday afternoon, hoping to convert a strong preliminary round into a gold medal.

The Americans will start out on the vault, then move on to the uneven bars, the balance beam and finish on the floor exercise, as the top eight national teams rotate through different parts of the Rio Olympic Arena.

Days before this final, the Americans dominated qualifying, but they'll need another strong performance today as they face teams from Russia, China, Japan, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Germany, and host Brazil.

We'll update this post below, with news and analysis from the event – so if you want to avoid spoilers, look away now. The team event starts at 3 p.m. on the East Coast of the U.S. – 4 p.m. in Brazil –- and is expected to last around two hours.

The U.S. is competing in a rotation with China's gymnasts. Here's the lists of U.S. gymnasts taking part: Lauren Hernandez; Aly Raisman, Simone Biles, Gabrielle Douglas, and Madison Kocian.

Update at 5:18 p.m. ET: Raisman, Hernandez And Biles On The Beam

After a small wobble early in her beam program, Aly Raisman recovers and lands her leaps and flips with speed and precision. She then takes a couple of deep breaths, walks purposefully to the other end of the beam and launches herself off and into a sharp landing. As USA Gymnastics says on their Twitter feed, Raisman stuck an Arabian double in her program.

She's followed by Hernandez, who turns in an amazing performance on the beam. There are flawless layouts and a double pike on the landing. With a score of 15.233, she tops Raisman's score (15.000).

Biles follows with a routine that shows she's capable of at least a fraction of the human wobbles the rest of us might feel if we were even contemplating some of she's pulling off. In one striking sequence, she spins around on the beam. In another, she explodes off the end of the beam and into a flawless landing. The judges give her a 15.300.

Update at 5:06 p.m. ET: Halfway Through, U.S. Leads By 4 Points

With two of the four apparati now completed, the American team now has a four-point lead, and China has moved into second position ahead of Russia. It's the U.S. at 93.365, followed by China with 89.339.

Update at 4 p.m. ET: Douglas And Kocian Shine

For Gabby Douglas, today's team finals are nearly the end of the road. As NPR's Melissa Block has reported, she won't move on to the all-around competition because of the Olympics' limits of two athletes per country — and Raisman and Biles earned those spots. Douglas nails her landing off the bars and bounces off the landing pad, all smiles.

She's followed by Kocian — whose routine looks flawless to these untrained eyes, and which culminates in a twisting dismount that earns a large and loud cheer from the crowd at the Rio Olympic Arena.

Afterwards, Kocian and Douglas do something that didn't happen after the vaults: they stand and laugh and talk for minutes. Clearly, they are feeling great about their routines.

Note: Watching this live, we do not have the benefit of hearing highly knowledgeable gymnastics analysts tell us what all these contortions and flips are, so we're focused on describing what's going on.

Update at 3:50 p.m. ET: Uneven Bars

After watching the Chinese athletes perform their routines on the uneven bars, the U.S. squad is finally called. Biles will lead off, followed by Douglas, Kocian, Raisman, and Hernandez.

The Americans take turns warming up on the bars, running through their routines. Because this is essentially a practice, Kocian's twisting and flipping landing, which looks impossible to our eyes, gets no applause.

Biles follows with her routine — and her landing is so sound and straight that it looks like she's just returned to her roots on the ground.

The arena is quite loud at times with cheering — particularly for the Brazilian team that's concurrently competing on the floor exercise.

Update at 3:35 p.m. ET: Looking At Scores

Because of the different times various disciplines require, there's been a pretty long delay between the vault, which is by far the quickest, to the slower uneven bars.

The U.S. and Chinese gymnasts present themselves to the judges — and some of the American athletes smile and laugh in speaking to them. The Chinese gymnasts are dressed in purple leotards with rows of glittering silver — an effect that's echoed in their glittery eye makeup.

After the first rotation, the U.S. team is in first place, with a combined 46.866 points. Russia is running a close second with 46.166 — a figure to keep in mind on the U.S. uneven bars rotation, which the Russian team just left.

Update at 3:20 p.m. ET: Uneven Bars

Next up: the uneven bars. The order for the U.S.: Biles; Douglas; Kocian; Raisman; and Hernandez. They're waiting for the two other teams to finish their turns on the apparatus.

Final scores are now in for the vault; the U.S. scored a 46.866 — more than 2 points above the 44.332 for the Chinese gymnasts.

Update at 3:10 p.m. ET: Simone Biles Soars On The Vault

After hurtling down the runway, Simone Biles' body becomes completely calm the second she hits the air on her vault. She lands cleanly and beams. There are no penalties on her score.

No major glitches so far for the U.S., and the team is all business as it sits on the bench watching the Chinese gymnasts perform their vaults.

Update at 3:05 p.m. ET: Hernandez And Raisman Lead Off

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