It should be said first and foremost: Simone Biles is expected to top the compilation after Thursday’s all-around qualifier in the Olympics, and is ready for the final in at least two gear.
But the 24-year-old phenomenon with 25 World Cup medals and four Olympic golds on the merit list was not recognizable when she stepped into the Ariake Hall in Tokyo, on Sunday morning Swedish time.
– So you can say. I do not think she was herself, says Callie Caplan, who follows the gymnastics competitions for the Dallas Morning News.
– She made some mistakes that you do not expect to see from her on an Olympic stage.
Together with DN, others foreign media and representatives from almost all major American media houses, the Dallas reporter Caplan has just left the so-called mixed zone in the interior of the Olympic arena.
Without any comment from either Biles or other American gymnasts.
The domestic press is used to being crowded around their gymnastics stars and getting answers. Now they were not allowed to ask any questions at all, and it was not just due to corona rules.
– In normal cases, they come out and talk. I do not know if they decided before or after the competition that they would not talk to us. But neither was Tom Forster – who is the team’s “high performance coach” – particularly willing to talk. He finished pretty quickly.
– Simone Biles was unrecognizable during the ladies’ first gymnastics day in the Olympics – but she still leads.
Photo: Lionel Bonaventure / AFP
Yes, Forster was few words and short.
After five minutes and 29 seconds, where he stated, among other things, that the team’s mistake as a whole was due to “the mental”, he suddenly turned his back on the cluster of journalists.
– I will go now. I’m done, he said and disappeared.
Legally did several American shoes worse off than expected. And before the team final this week, Russia is the best team.
Biles then?
The audience was missing, but there were probably still many who held their breath when the 24-year-old, who is one of the biggest stars in the Olympics, started with a stand-alone.
From the stands, leaders were heard applauding and cheering. And in the press, it was crowded.
Winner Biles the all-around gold medal, she will be the first female gymnast to take two straight Olympic golds in over 50 years.
But in the qualifier in freestyle she took a step off the mat after a series of volts, and there were misses in the landings even in jumps and booms – where Biles wavered and had to fight to stay on her feet.
There was really nothing wrong with the level of difficulty, the technique and the score. But anyone who has seen a stencool Biles completely shine with confidence in previous championships got to see another gymnast in Tokyo.
– Simone Biles on the boom, her last gear in Sunday’s qualifier.
Photo: Lionel Bonaventure / AFP
Just after its on paper weakest branch conifers – where the final place just like in the boom is not yet ready when a starting group remains in the qualifiers – she offered a real smile after finishing performance.
Afterwards, she left the arena with Sunisa Lee (currently second in the all-around qualifier with 57,166 points compared to Biles’ 57,731) and the other four teammates.
– It was not a normal effort from any of them, except possibly for Jade Carey (second behind Biles in jump), says Callie Caplan.
– Overall, I do not think it was the day they had hoped for, and definitely not as people from outside had hoped for.
Overall, I do not think it was the day they had hoped for, and definitely not what people from outside had hoped for.
Simone Biles has been one of the biggest sports stars in the United States for many years. The never-ending gold, and the fact that Biles – himself affected – has stood up for the victims of the great American gymnastics scandal, where a national team doctor exposed hundreds of activists to sexual abuse – makes her no less popular.
– Every time she competes, at least when what is not in the middle of the night at home, other athletes and celebrities cheer on her, tweet or share videos of all the crazy exercises she can do. Everyone from LeBron James to Michelle Obama agrees, says Callie Caplan.
And the continuation of the Olympics?
– I have no doubt that Simone will come home with some gold, in one way or another.
Read more:
Simone Biles in the Olympics after the abuse scandal: “Is here like a voice for the survivors”