Throughout the team final at the Rio Olympics, 2012 Olympians Aly Raisman and Gabby Douglas, along with first-time Olympians Madison Kocian, Laurie Hernandez and Simone Biles, looked focused but confident, never faltering under the weight of the world’s or their expectations.
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Biles is only 4-foot-8, so small she worries about getting “stepped on” in the Olympic village. Hernandez, Raisman and Biles all scored over 15 points on balance beam, looking a little less steady than usual but keeping in control. According to the USA gymnastics team website, she says her favorite thing about the sport is “the feeling of flying”.
Phelps has won this event at the last three Olympic Games but expect strong competition from the likes of world record holder Ryan Lochte.
“It didn’t even feel like the Olympics because we were just so ready”. And in order for Biles to lose the gold medal for her team, she would have had to fall – and land out of bounds – on just about every single flip of her action packed routine.
The big question now is whether the members of Team USA, including Biles who is competing at her first Games, will be able to replicate their dazzling performances throughout the individual events, which begin on Sunday. In the Karolyis’ first Olympics in 1976, Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci won three gold medals in Quebec, Canada.
She helped the USA women to team titles at the last two world championships and is competing in her first Olympics. Biles, who won her first world championship the year after the 2012 Games, profited handsomely off of endorsements during the run-up to Rio.
“I think it would be nice to see something that everybody can understand”, said Comaneci, who posted seven 10s in Montreal.
Biles cites that some of her favorite music to listen to includes Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, and of course Selena Gomez, Pop Sugar reported. Raisman tells Cosmpolitan that she starts each day with hot water and lemon, and keeps drinking water throughout the day-especially mid-workout.
Biles attempts trickier elements than anyone, and she pulls them off cleaner than anyone nearly every time. Four years later, this seems dubious; Franklin rescinded her amateur status just in time for Ledecky’s ascent.
“We have not seen a gymnast like this since Nadia Comaneci”, Lease said.
Aly Raisman competes in the floor exercise during Day 2 of the 2016 US Women’s Gymnastics Olympic Trials at SAP Center on July 10, 2016 in San Jose, California. Something she never saw coming. Also like Biles, Ledecky’s Catholic faith is central to her identity. Gymnast Simone Biles Tweeted a picture of the moment.
Tennis great Serena Williams lost to Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina, ending her Olympic bid this year.
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Her remark about her patron saint was part of a list in an August 9 article about Biles posted by the magazine online with the headline, “25 Things You Don’t Know About Me”.
