RIO DE JANEIRO-Fresh from winning the team gold medal and Simon Biles’ historic first-place performance in the all-around competition, the US women’s gymnasts stepped into the media glare on Friday looking a bit shellshocked by the attention.
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“I’m not the next Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps, I’m the first Simone Biles”, she said. “It won’t be exactly normal but we’ll make it as normal as possible”. Her silver medal confirmation was not long in coming, and the moment was emotional for the 22-year-old US team captain, whose 2012 All-around final ended with her on the unfortunate side of a tiebreaker.
So great were the expectations that Simone Biles was unofficially awarded the Olympic All-around gold medal almost a year ago, after she won her third consecutive World title in dominating fashion.
“It’s very exciting and very insane”.
“Obviously four years ago, when they broke the tie and I got fourth place, it was very heartbreaking”, Raisman said on Today. And she did: With a relaxed smile on her face and assured, nearly casual performances on every apparatus, the 19-year-old flipped and twisted her way to All-Around gold with stunning ease, two days after earning her first Olympic title with the USA team.
Performing flips, spins, and turns that have people questioning if her actions are even supported by the laws of physics anymore, Biles-along with the other historic women making up this year’s “Final Five” women’s gymnastics team-will be talked about for years to come. Asked how she maintained her focus despite the distractions of 10,000 athletes and hundreds of thousands of fans, the Virginia Beach native said, “You kind of just stay in your own bubble”.
The 19-year-old African-American acrobat out of Spring, Texas, has completely dominated the events she has appeared in so far during the 2016 Olympics in Rio, earning two gold medals.
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“I feel like our schedules are just getting built up every day”, said Laurie Hernandez, of Old Bridge, New Jersey, who at 16 was the youngest of the group.
