The London 2012 all-around gold medallist, Douglas failed to qualify for the competition in Rio and her Sunday routine on the uneven bars – long her strong suit – was marked by hesitations that pushed her down to the second-to-last place.
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When Biles got to the vault-rocking a sparkly red leotard-she had to beat Paseka’s score of 15.253 in order to get the gold. Giulia Steingruber of Switzerland took bronze. Biles led the Americans to team gold last week before claiming Olympic all-around gold.
“Biles won on Sunday because her mere presence forces her opponents to try risky and unsafe things in the hope of somehow defeating her, making her victories easier when they fail”, according to the Guardian. That makes *three* gold medals for Biles now in Rio, and her first vault win on the world stage. Whitlock previously won bronze in the individual all-around, the country’s first gymnastics medal of any kind in 108 years.
There was a little hop following her opening Amanar vault, a 2-1/2 twisting back somersault. In training, she was seen attempting the triple-twisting Yurchenko, a more hard version of the Amanar vault made famous by McKayla Maroney.
An ear-to-ear grin and a high-five with coach Aimee Boorman completed another golden day for the 19-year-old who is proving to be an unbeatable force in Rio.
Russian Federation added to their tally of golds after Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina won the women’s doubles final 6-4, 6-4 against Switzerland’s Martina Hingis and Timea Bacsinszky, while Jemima Sumgong became the first Kenyan woman to win the Olympic marathon. Biles has proven herself unbeatable in the world of gymnastics, and after today’s medal, she has surpassed Shannon Miller in becoming the most decorated US Gymnast of all time. “It’s something I wanted so badly, so I just tried to keep a good mind going into vault”, she said.
She stays on pace to win an unprecedented five gold medals, with balance beam Monday the most questionable. That played to her favor. “Now she’s owning the podium”. “Obviously I would love to be first, but then I look at Simone and I see that she is unreachable now”.
When reporters asked if her Olympic experience was ruined by critics who called her out for not putting her hand on her heart during the national anthem – following the criticism of her hair at the 2012 Games – Douglas’ eyes teared up. Somebody dubbed her “Crabby Gabby” on social media this week, and she was clearly hurt.
“I hadn’t done enough of them and it just wasn’t right”.
“I feel very excited, because having gone to worlds and having two silvers and a bronze, it means a lot to me”. For me, it was a little bit hurtful.
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“I apologize if what may have seemed like me being really mad in the stands, I wasn’t”.
