She would have had to really mess up horribly to not be in medal contention and especially in the hunt for the gold medal.
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Today, she calls her grandparents “mom and dad” and attends church with them when she’s not at a meet.
There were tears all round as the tiny 19-year-old Texan crushed her rivals with a powerful display of acrobatics and tumbling which kept the all-around title in U.S. hands for a fourth straight Olympics.
Biles’ path to Rio has had hiccups. “I felt like my life was going down the drain”, she told Texas Monthly magazine earlier this year. The tiebreaker rules stipulated that each gymnast’s lowest score would be dropped, and the total of the remaining three would determine the bronze medalist.
FIRST TIME EVER: Team USA’s Simone Manuel won the 100-meter freestyle in 52.70 to become the first African-American woman to earn a medal in an individual event in swimming in the Summer Olympics.
The vault final was the first of three individual events Biles qualified to compete in, and she’ll take to the gym floor on Monday to go for a medal in beam and on Tuesday to try and medal in the floor exercise final. “Except for Simone Biles’s floor routine”. She will compete in the finals of the vault, balance beam and floor exercise. Biles is the only woman in the world who does the “Biles”. She has updated her second vault, though, and winning is not out of the question. Mustafina’s score of 15.900 was just a touch better than Kocian’s score of 15.833.
Redemption for Raisman: After losing out on a medal in the all-around in London due to a weird tiebreak procedure, American Aly Raisman used the chance at medaling in Rio as her motivation to return to the gym.
Biles scored 15.966 points – the average of her two vaults – and was the only gymnast to surpass 16 points on any vault.
Harrison was able to defend her title in the 78k Judo competition, bringing home another gold.
Watching from close by was Aimee Boorman, who has coached Biles for almost the gymnast’s whole career.
In Antwerp, Nanning and Glasgow she flew through the air faster and higher than her rivals, completing her acrobatic tumbles with solid landings. “I’m excited for the other finals now”, she said.
She had expected both would receive bronze after finishing behind Gabby Douglas of the United States and Victoria Komova of Russian Federation.
Alex Naddour of the US also made a bit of history in the men’s pommel horse final, taking the bronze medal to become the first American to medal in the event at the Olympics since Peter Vidmar and Tim Daggett claimed gold and bronze in 1984 in Los Angeles. Chusovitina said afterward she’s already planning to train all the way to the 2020 games in Tokyo.
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Raisman finished 1.759 behind Biles with Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade a further two points back in qualifiers with the U.S. bidding for a one-two finish for the second time in after 2008.
