City, Utah, finished 21st of 30 starters, clearly still affected by right knee surgery she underwent in August. Although she showed improved form Tuesday, she plans to take the rest of the season off.

Two other Americans from Park City competed — Jessica Jerome was 10th and former world champion Lindsey Van 15th.

Before the final, Jerome's father Peter held a news conference with other American families who had led the fight to get women's jumping into the Games.

"No one handed this to them," he said. "Being good at this didn't get them to where they are tonight. They were jumping as much as they could because they loved the sport and there was no reward other than the personal satisfaction of competing with their peers, challenging themselves and doingnot listen too much to the criticism or the praise. But to have made it to the very top as soon as possible is an advantage because you learn to mature quickly and then you play like a world class player straight away."

Paulo Dybala joined Juventus from Palermo in 2015. Matteo Bottanelli/Getty

Higuain set a new scoring record in Serie A last season with 36 goals for Napoli before joining Juventus in the summer, elevating him into the gilded company of Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Luis Suarez and Robert Lewandowski.

The 29-year-old said he is particularly fond of the latter two, but that it is former Brazil international Ronaldo who remains his all-time favourite.

"When I was young I would watch a lot of Italian football, which is where all the top