Should she win five golds, she will top Larisa Latynina (1956), Vera Caslavska (1968) and Ekaterina Szabo (1984) for most by a gymnast at a single games. He was the boisterous cheerleader, the emotional one.
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When I was my niece’s age, the US Olympics showcased many great black female athletes, but we didn’t have the luxury of taking them for granted.
In that system, gymnasts train with their personal coaches, but they attend monthly, weeklong national team training camps to be evaluated by national team staff.
The camp is held at the Karolyis’ 2,000-acre ranch in the middle of Sam Houston National Forest, north of Houston.
Dawes competed in three Olympic games, becoming the only American gymnast to do so.
Open champion Henrik Stenson is the favorite to bring home a gold medal for Sweden, followed by Sergio Garcia of Spain, Britain’s Justin Rose and Rickie Fowler and Bubba Watson of the U.S.
“We had a lot of pressure coming in but I think we handled it pretty well”, said Raisman.
Lease also marvelled in Biles’ ability to handle the extraordinary pressure that builds with each of her achievements. Karolyi knew she could nurture something special from the moment she saw a young Biles launch off the vault like a rocket and 9-year-old Laurie Hernandez tightrope-walk along the edge of a sidewalk like it was a balance beam.
In fact when she was on the floor exercise, she was the final competitor tonight.
Biles and Raisman compete in the all-around on Thursday, and it would be an upset if they did not finish 1-2 in that event. Her landings were so solid that her soles seemed coated in super glue.
Except she never does and rarely is.
Yet there she was during the routine, on the edge of her seat and gripping the railing in front of her, as if her life depended on it.
Biles, competing in her first Olympic Games, led the charge as the USA women won gold in the team gymnastics competition Tuesday. The gymnasts could feel her presence.
The charismatic Douglas would become a household name and face, as Biles now is, and who knows how many little girls will later say they were influenced by seeing someone who looked like them in the sport? Her second trick of the afternoon involved a handstand into backbend, and for her final performance, she threatened to do a flip, but was promptly stopped by my mother, who vied to save all her art pieces surrounding us.
Biles said that she did not believe Karolyi was really retiring, and that if Karolyi heard “the team cracking”, Karolyi would be back to fix it.
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“Don’t take anything granted”, Karolyi said. She’s the first woman to take three consecutive all-round world titles while her 14 world championship medals are the most ever won by an American woman. He told her he was proud of her. I remember being in awe of her.
