Nellie Biles’ daughter Simone is expected to win big as she steps into the Olympics spotlight for the first time.
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The legend of Simone Biles continues to grow as she establishes herself as the greatest African-American gymnast to ever do the damn thing. Ashton Locklear, Ragan Smith and MyKayla Skinner are the alternates if any of the five suffer any injuries.
But Douglas’ pain and frustration is Raisman’s joy.
Her total of 60.131 was just 0.476 of a point adrift of Raisman, who along with Biles made it to the all around final.
From down and out after three events, the USA had three 15-point scores on vault, three on parallel bars and back-to-back 15-point performances from Mikulak and Brooks on high bar. At the 2012 London Games, she represented Albania because Kosovo was not recognized by the International Olympic Committee until 2014. It was a return to the podium for China, 176.003, who failed to medal in London. With Romania not even qualifying to compete in Rio in the team event, the US now competes with a degree of difficulty and consistency that were once the sole purview of eastern European and, lately, Asian teams.
“I want to get a team medal, but I know that it’s very hard because the other teams are very competitive”, said Asuka Teramoto, the veteran among a team of Olympic newcomers.
Veteran Catalina Ponor kept former gymnastics powerhouse Romania in the medals chase as she reached the beam final. Theoretically, that shouldn’t be an issue. “We are here to win a team medal, and the rest is extra”. Biles is the clear favorite in the all-around.
Her routine-and olympic debut moment-was right “on the money” where she performed her signature move “The Biles”, or a a double layout with a half-twist. With ten gold medals, Biles also holds the record for most gold medals won by a female gymnast in the history of the World Championships.
“Every one of us qualified for an event final so I don’t think we could ask for any more”, said Biles. “I didn’t expect to beat Novak tonight, because I know my situation”. “It’s 3-up, 3-count. It’s pressure on everybody, no matter who are you are, what country you compete for”. “I’m a bubbly person and when I’m enjoying myself it comes through”.
Two members of the Fierce Five are back.
Simone Biles showed the world why she is an Olympic champion-in-waiting as she and her American team mates blew away the opposition by nearly 10 points in women’s gymnastics qualifying at the Rio Games on Sunday. But under Olympic rules, it meant disappointment for reigning Olympic all-around champion Gabby Douglas.
“It was better to have a male out there to help out with spotting”, Douglas said, according to Sports Illustrated. USA national team director Martha Karolyi told her gymnasts that she loved them. She’s also the captain.
For the dozens of young gymnasts who are victims of abuse, doing so would take on more meaning than any amount of gold medals ever could.
“We thank everyone for all the support”, Raisman said. “We’re very excited and hope to make everyone back home very proud”. “It’s just really exciting that we finished qualifications as well as we did”.
But it paid off – allowing her to fit in competitions and a rigorous training schedule that often included 32 hours of training.
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“When they called my name, it kind of felt like I got hit in the head with a hammer”, Hernandez said. “I was like, ‘Whoa!'”
