Where can you find reasons to feel truly positive about the American spirit today? That is a question that many voters might be asking themselves after the long 2016 race. For while the contest ended this week with a victory for Trump, it seems unlikely to bring a close to all the polarisation and acrimony; on the contrary, most pundits fear that America is more polarised now than ever before, with a poisonous mood.
Last week, though, I discovered one little flash of joy — and hope — in an unexpected place: the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, where I took my daughters to watch a performance of the US Olympic women’s gymnastics team. The “Final Five” — as Simone Biles, Gabby Douglas, Aly Raisman, Madison Kocian and Laurie Hernandez call themselves — delivered a stunning performance at the Rio Games, reaping a historic nine medals.
Unsurprisingly, their performance at the Barclays Center was exuberant and impressive, with somersaults, gravity-defying leaps, bar routines — and rousing images of the American flag. So far, so cheering. But what really grabbed my attention was not the physical contortions — it was the atmosphere in the auditorium. The Final Five is a strikingly multiracial group, with African-American (Biles and Douglas), Caucasian (Kocian and Raisman) and Hispanic (Hernandez) gymnasts.