Even on ‘autopilot’, Simone Biles and Gabby Douglas will spearhead a powerful United States women’s gymnastics team’s bid for Olympic gold starting today.
 Douglas, 20, is the reigning Olympic all-around titleholder and Games rookie Biles, 19, a three-time world all-around champion. The US are the reigning Olympic and two-time world team champions, with gold theirs for the taking with the battle between Douglas and Biles set to ignite the all-around.
 “We’ve done so many routines we’re kind of on autopilot right now, so it’s just like go, go, go, go,” warned Douglas, bidding to become the first woman since Czechoslovakia’s Vera Caslavska in 1968 to win back-to-back all-around gold.
 Too young to compete in London, the acrobatic Biles has dominated the four-year Olympic cycle since, winning 10 world titles and is the overwhelming favourite to be the star of the Rio Olympic Arena.
 She snatched another gold in last year’s worlds ahead of Douglas, and the 2013 and 2014 world titles as her rival took time off after the London Games.
 “We’re so well-prepared that we know what to expect of ourselves and our gymnastics once we go out there on the competition floor,” said Biles, bidding to become the first woman to win five gymnastic gold medals at a single Olympics.
 “It’s the Olympics, but if you think about it your brain’s going to fall out, you’re going to freak out. So we are trying to treat it like a (national) championships,” added the Texan.
 Aly Raisman, 22, Laurie Hernandez, 16, and 19-year-old Madison Kocian, who shared the uneven bars world title last year, complete the five-woman US team.
 Martha Karolyi is confident she has found the right combination in what will be her final Olympics as US national team coordinator.
 Douglas and Raisman, winner of floor gold in London, are the only two US gymnasts from the 2012 Games, with the former selected despite struggling in US Olympic trials.
 “It’s a very good to combine experience with newcomers,” said the 73-year-old. “I always like that combination and I think it works this time. Traditionally Russia and China are the most competitive and Britain is coming up to challenge us.”
 Britain, the world team bronze medallists from Glasgow last year, are ready to challenge for a first women’s Olympic team medal since 1928.
“We’re stronger and better than we were four years ago and it’s going up and up,” said Britain’s Rebecca Downie. “We’re hoping to get a medal as a team.”
 Russia’s Aliya Mustafina won all-around bronze in London, and with China’s Shang Chunsong and Giulia Steingruber of Switzerland is expected to challenge for an all-around medal.
 The reigning uneven bars champion is one of two members of Russia’s silver medal winning team from London, but without Olympic all-around silver medallist Viktoria Komova the Russians could be struggling to match the Americans in the team event.
 “The Americans are so strong but we’re confident of taking a silver medal,” said China’s Fan Yilin, 16, as the 2008 Beijing winners bid for a podium finish after finishing fourth in London.
 Former gymnastics powerhouse Romania failed to even qualify a full women’s team for Rio. Women’s qualifying begins today with the top 24 gymnasts advancing to Thursday’s all-around final. Eight nations qualify for Tuesday’s team final, with eight gymnasts advancing to the apparatus finals—vault, uneven bars, beam and floor—from August 14-16.