Ron Biles, the father of the gymnastics superstar who has taken the Rio Games by storm … graceful storm … had a short and simple response when asked how he would feel about fans naming newborn girls after his daughter Simone.
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The 19-year-old is chasing five gold medals in Rio, and few would bet against the 1.45m (4ft 9in) Texan adding to her tally in the apparatus finals to come. Biles’ difficulty score is so insanely high that virtually no other gymnast- now or in the history of the sport- can touch her.
Thursday’s win was Biles 2nd gold medal, the first coming when Team USA won the gold on Tuesday.
U.S. sensation Simone Biles added the Olympic women’s all-around to her team title for a second gymnastics gold title in Rio on Thursday.
Her floor routine also includes a move that is now named for her – how cool is that?
Meanwhile, Raisman quietly and characteristically did some of her best work with a quiet focus. Her victory was never in doubt and she burst into tears when her long journey to this moment ended when her final total was posted.
That lesson might be especially important at these games, which occur a week after an Indianapolis Star investigative report alleged that the USA Gymnastics community failed to report abusive coaches to authorities in a timely fashion.
When the standings after the second rotation flashed and Biles had slipped behind Russia’s Aliya Mustafina, the first time she had trailed in a competition – any competition – in nearly three years, it would have been easy to wonder if a small crack was beginning to show. By age 14, she had made her mark as an elite junior gymnast, finishing third in the all-around American Classic.
“Everything was going through my head but mainly it was like I had finally done it and when that hits you, you can’t really stop the emotions”.
“The fire alarm’s going off, but we got our gold!” she says in the Snapchat video.
“Just because she wins every single competition”, Raisman said.
The number of world-championship gold medals Biles has won, the most ever by a female gymnast.
“I’m sure most people don’t go into it (the men’s 100m) thinking they can beat Usain Bolt either, so it’s kind of the same thing”.
Aly Raisman, the U.S. teammate who was fairly awesome herself and won the silver medal, was basically resigned to her fate from the moment she walked onto the competition floor.
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Uchimura won the men’s individual all around gold medal, adding to an wonderful record that includes three world championship titles and gold at the 2012 London Olympics.
