Simone Biles, one of the undoubted stars of these Olympics, has won the all-round Gymnastics Gold medal for America, with teammate Aly Raisman taking silver. Simone Biles. And she’d like to be recognized as such, please and thank you.
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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.
“She was the spine of the team in 2012, spine of the team here, the most trusted gymnast”.
She spoke of the difficulty in being a rare black swimmer on the American team, how it has attracted positive attention but at the same time brought a burden. She went back in front with a 15.433 on beam – and capped it with a 15.933 on floor that Karolyi called “very close to perfection”.
At this point, everyone knows who Simone Biles is and where she stands in Olympic history. He was an alternate four years ago in London and struggled on floor exercise in the team final last week as the US finished fifth.
The team gold for the American women on Tuesday, combined with Thursday’s performance, was powerful proof of US dominance in the sport. Her competition was always realistically playing for second place, and so it proved as Biles scored 15.966 ahead of Russia’s Maria Paseka (15.253) and Swiss gymnast Giulia Steingruber (15.216). This will be Mikulak’s first floor final at an Olympics or world championships.
But Phelps left the everyone in his wake, winning by a huge margin in 1:54:66, nearly two seconds ahead of silver medalist Kosuke Hagino of Japan. But he faded to fifth in the finals.
Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu – nicknamed the “Iron lady” – is favorite to win a fourth gold medal in the finals of the women’s 200m breaststroke.
Phelps has won this event at the last three Olympic Games but expect strong competition from the likes of world record holder Ryan Lochte. As she turned around to look at the scoreboard, she gasped when she learned she had tied for first. He won gold in the 200 backstroke Thursday after claiming gold in the 100 earlier this week.
That’s because gold has been out of reach for everyone but Biles for three years and counting. Back then, reigning world champion Jordyn Wieber was favored to win, and Douglas was hot off a win at trials, but it was Raisman who finished first in qualification.
“Yes”, she said. “Yes. Yes”.
She has had four years to think about that day.
“She told me she would take a year off and go to college”.
She credits her current coach, Jimmy Pedro, with helping her emotionally and as a judoka.
Biles will be 23 by the time the 2020 Olympics kick off in Tokyo, but Raisman is showing at the age of 22 that medals can be won in bunches even beyond teen-age years.
Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press.
Simone Biles took the floor with a smile that had a hint of mischievousness in it. The game was all but over by halftime as Fiji raced to a 29-0 lead in this fast-paced, high-scoring version of the game. Michael Phelps might have enough gold to open a jewelry store but the name “Michael” is unlikely to shift in usage much as a result. Raisman, team captain at the 2012 and 2016 Games, is now a five-time Olympic medalist.
With numerous top names in golf opting out of Rio, citing Zika and security concerns, the field has been left wide open for lesser-known players like Fraser, who took a three-stroke lead at the end of the opening round. “But I think mine is a little different”.
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Golf returned to the Olympics, but of the USA’s four contenders, only Matt Kuchar shot under par with a 69.
