Biles didn’t live up to her own standard, one that has nothing to do with what she wears around her neck and everything with doing her gymnastics.
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RIO DE JANEIRO Dutchwoman Sanne Wevers caused a huge upset when she ruined Simone Biles’ chances of scooping a record five golds at a single Olympics by winning the balance beam title in Rio on Monday.
“I think you guys want it more than I do”, Biles said matter of factly. But never fear, Team USA fans – Laurie Hernandez took silver and Simone Biles got bronze! She waited for Hernandez’s score alongside her, with the two smiling and talking, knowing Hernandez had a shot at the podium.
“I’m so proud of Laurie because she does those same exact routines in practice”, Biles said.
Even if Biles had nailed her routine, there’s no telling if she would have matched Wevers and Hernandez.
Mikulak said he “got pretty rattled” by the noise. “Your brain maybe for a moment, it just gets exhausted”.
Biles admitted she was “disappointed” with the section of the routine which proved her downfall and that she “didn’t know what happened” when she almost fell off the beam.
1st olympics – 4th olympic medal (3 gold & 1 bronze) yall aight out there? bc I’m more than happy!
Lauren Hernandez wins the silver medal in the balance beam Monday. With a medal on floor exercise – an event she won gold on in London – Raisman would be alone in second and just one behind Shannon Miller. “But I’m disappointed in the routine that I did and not so much the whole entire routine, just the front tuck I guess”. She’s commanding on floor, although she faces a similar ceiling there as Biles is favored to win gold on Tuesday.
Simone Biles’ drive for five Olympic gold medals is over. Mary Lou Retton did in 1984, and Nastia Liukin did it in 2008.
Soviet gymnast Larissa Latynina (1956), Czech Vera Caslavska (1968) and Romanian Ecaterina Szabo (1984), have all also won four gold medals at the same Olympics.
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In the other two apparatus finals to be held today, Ri Se-gwang of North Korea and Greek Eleftherios Petrounias added Olympic gold to their world titles in the vault and rings events respectively. It means getting through all four events in an all-around competition without any major mistakes, and gymnasts claim it’s more important to them than the scores or rankings.
