Her score, a 15.996, was untouchable. A 15.966, placing her in the top spot and making her virtually untouchable.
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For second place, that is.
Raisman went seventh and has rarely been better.
US gymnast Danell Leyva took the silver in 15.500 points and Nile Wilson of Britain finished third in 15.466.
Of course, many were gunning for Biles to win five gold medals at the Games – one for each event – something no gymnast has ever done.
She added a bronze in the balance beam event Monday in what marked the first day of Summer Olympics competition since 2008 that the United States didn’t win a gold medal. So what did Biles mention, repeatedly, was her dream? For a moment, set aside Biles’ scores. The charismatic forward has been one of the world’s top players for more than a decade, but she has never won a major global tournament with her national team.
I think you guys want it more than I do because I just want to perform the routines that I’ve practised. “I don’t know. It’s insane”. It’s like she’s at another level. “I brought home five medals and I medaled in every single thing that I did”.
If Biles’ own teammates were a little star-struck, imagine the impact on the outside competition. Frankly, she was all over the mat.
It’s understandable that Biles can’t find the words to describe how dominant she’s been.
“I saw Becky at the finish line so I was thinking that I had silver, but then I saw the screen and there was a “one” before my name – that was ahhhhh, yeah insane”, added the new champion.
Competing against a talent for the ages calls for different approaches.
Biles said she will take a post-Olympic break, starting with a pizza party and continuing on a 36-city tour with the team from mid-September through mid-November. She stepped onto the medal podium for a final time at these Rio Games – and perhaps the last time at an Olympics – wearing the broad smile that has become her trademark. The Hillcrest and SMU swimmer put more fear into Mark Spitz than anyone.
Clayton Murphy won the bronze medal in the 800m after a insane come-from-behind sprint during the final few hundred meters.
“But they said whatever you want to do, we’re always supporting you”.
The victory by the 24-year-old Wevers, the oldest Olympic champion in the discipline since Eva Bosakova in 1960, gave the Dutch their second Olympic medal in women’s artistic gymnastics after their team gold at the 1928 Games in Amsterdam. She reportedly trains 32 hours a week.
Only her “sister” is better than her at what she does. The notion astounds even Biles.
Diana Taurasi and the US women’s basketball brushed aside yet another opponent at the Rio Games after being challenged for the first time in the Olympics, albeit for just one half. “It’s definitely rewarding, and I’m very proud of myself. I don’t know. It’s insane …”
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“She made that save, because both of her feet were coming off the beam”. While clips of the routine that got her a fourth gold are not available online yet, you can see snippets of her spirited moves in the videos below showing past runs of the routine.
