Biles’ misfortune allowed Wevers to become the first female Dutch gymnast to grab gold in an individual final, with a graceful routine featuring numerous spins, including a triple.
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Beach volleyball: US women vs. Brazil (11 p.m., NBC) – Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross are two wins away from gold, but they may have to get through two Brazilian teams to get there. Watch Wevers’ elegant routine here. For the women, Aly Raisman will try to defend her 2012 gold medal on floor, while Simone Biles will try to get back atop the podium after Monday’s third place finish. Since last Tuesday’s smashing win in the team competition, Biles won individual golds in the all-around and the vault, with Aly Raisman and Madison Kocian taking silvers respectively in the all-around and uneven bars. It wasn’t hers. Her only regret in earning bronze during the beam final on Monday centered on those five seconds when she found herself scrambling trying to recover from a wobbly landing following a front flip.
Despite her disappointment, Simone accepted the bronze with grace, giving Laurie a hug after her score was announced and saying, “I’m so proud of you”.
The medal also gave the relentlessly charismatic Hernandez a chance to step into the spotlight after national team coordinator Martha Karolyi opted to keep her budding star out of the all-around competition during qualifying.
“I don’t know how she made that save because both of her feet were coming off the beam, so I was pretty impressed with that”, Boorman said.
“I don’t know what happened”.
Biles, 19, is the 2014 and 2015 World Championships gold medalist in beam, but she finished fourth at the U.S. Trials. 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.
Rather than high-powered tumbling, Wevers routine consisted of an artful mixture of challenging spins and leaps.
“To be out there and do my best routine ever in such a big final was incredible”, Wevers said. “I think you guys want it more than I do because I just want to perform the routines that I’ve practiced”.
“The combination of both is crucial”. It is the performance of my life and a personal record.
“I’m just happy that I could perform the way that I do in practice”, a beaming Hernandez told reporters.
Miller says didn’t plan one of the most dramatic images seen at the Rio Olympics. “It was just so nerve-wrecking”.
Wevers’ dismount seemed ideal: she ran toward the end of the beam, flipped backward in the air and landed with a solid thud. Her gold in the all-around team event was her second gold in this event after team US won it in 2012.
Karolyi, the USA national team coordinator, admitted that it was disappointing. When Hernandez salutes to the judges before each routine, Haney is standing behind them.
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Was she upset about the end of the “Drive for Five”, the catchphrase coined to describe her quest for an Olympic-record five gold medals by a female gymnast at a single Olympics?
