Simone Biles dominated the field once again Thursday in Rio de Janeiro, taking home her second gold medal in the women’s individual all-around final.
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Australia’s Cate Campbell was a strong favorite going into the race, but Manuel remained calm as her rival faded.
The 20-year-old from Sugarland, Texas, won the gold in the 100m freestyle event, tying with the Canadian swimmer Penny Oleksiak.
Suddenly Biles was alone in the spotlight, the normally giggly teenager fighting back tears as she waved to the family that raised her, the coaches that molded her and the sport she is redefining.
In Lochte’s only individual swim in the summer games, Phelps surged to victory and the gold medal, becoming the only swimmer to win four consecutive gold medals in the same Olympic event.
Olympic swimmer Simone Manuel of the United States. Asked how she maintained her focus despite the distractions of 10,000 athletes and hundreds of thousands of fans, the Virginia Beach native said, “You kind of just stay in your own bubble”.
“It was a very special moment I’ll never ever forget”, she said.
Douglas said her teammates “did an awesome job”.
The 16-year-old also has a silver in the 100m butterfly and two relay bronze medals in Rio to her name.
Given that she is now 19 one can not be certain that we’ll see her at the next Olympics, given that 23 is pretty much over the hill when it comes to gymnastics, but whether she turns up or not she seems to have GOAT locked down.
“I’m not the next Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps”, Biles said.
Britain’s Max Whitlock had won a bronze medal in the men’s event on Wednesday, but Downie’s medal hopes ended with a poor score on her third apparatus, the uneven bars, before she made another error on beam. “This is for a whole bunch of people who have come before me, and have been an inspiration to me”, Manuel told NBC. I just want to be an inspiration to others that you can do it.
Redemption for Raisman: After losing out on a medal in the all-around in London due to a freaky tiebreak procedure, American Aly Raisman used the chance at medaling in Rio as her motivation to return to the gym. But Jones failed to make the USA team this year in what could have been his final attempt.
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“That helped keep the nerves off me”, Manuel said. “Thank you all so much for your support”.
