In afternoon action, American Kayla Harrison successfully defended her Olympic judo title in the women’s 78-kilogram division, beating France’s Audrey Tcheumeo in a tense final.
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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 USA hands for a fourth straight Olympics. “I don’t know. Every emotion hit me at once, so it was just kind of a train wreck”. I knew Simone was going to win. But I feel the same. But I feel the same.
Perhaps the best part of the note was what Hernandez and Kocian called Raisman: “Mama Aly”, which is a nod to the role she played for the Final Five throughout their journey to Rio. With three straight world all-around titles in a row, her Olympic victory gives her the distinction of being the only woman to win every major global competition in a single Olympic quadrennium, the “grand slam” of gymnastics.
Simone Biles may be gymnastics’ GOAT, but fellow American Aly Raisman proved her determination in fighting back to win the silver medal.
“I wasn’t even really anxious about that”, said Biles, whose 4-foot-9 frame puts her at a disadvantage on the uneven bars. She tied for third with Mustafina in the all-around at London four years ago.
Biles’ triumph made her the fourth successive American to win the title – following the successes of Carly Patterson, Nastia Liukin and Gabby Douglas – which is the longest winning streak by a country in the Olympic discipline. “I saw my coach in the stands but it’s just insane I don’t have words”, said Raisman.
Raisman, 22, took a leave of absence from the sport following the 2012 Olympic Games and then in 2014 made the decision to come back exclusively to go after the one medal that eluded her in London.
Biles really accomplished three things Thursday.
It’s nearly becoming hard to talk about Biles because there simply aren’t enough superlatives to describe her.
She also considers herself a decent fisherwoman.
“I tried to see them in the crowd but they started taking pictures”, she said. “I was quite edgy and a bit jumpy on the first tee because it’s such a big occasion to be here at the Olympics”. She was seventh in the uneven bars, her weakest event, and she did not stick her landing on the vault, which led her to say, “I’m still a little upset about vault”. She practices her exercises many times so that she can correct errors quickly. It’s not a coincidence.
The girl adopted by her grandparents as a toddler and discovered by coach Aimee Boorman’s mother during a field trip to the gym where Boorman was coaching has become a force.
This may explain why Biles is hyper-focused when she needs to be and relaxed the rest of the time. At one point Boorman pulled Biles aside and gave her a choice. Boorman asked a few times.
“I looked at Simone, and I was like, ‘You can’t look at [Raisman], because we’re both going to start crying, ‘” Boorman said. Russia’s Aliya Mustafina took the bronze.
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However, Biles, with her fingernails and eyelids colored gold, far and away exceeded that, earning the best scores in the balance beam, floor exercises and vault. But Mustafina’s old-school balletic form, expressive hands and 13.933 score weren’t enough to beat Raisman’s chock-a-block tumbling runs. They are grateful to be the one to the other.
