She took time off after her London success with Biles dominating women’s gymnastics in her absence.
Advertisement
American Simone Biles led the way through qualification in artistic gymnastics, as the United States finished the round atop the leaderboard with a team score of 185.238. “At the end of the day, that means so much coming from the head coordinator of gymnastics”.
The line-up did reveal some clues as to what to expect in Sunday’s qualification round. The top 24 finishers advance to the all-around finals and the American team is so dominant that if not for the rule the entire five-person team would probably advance.
The real battle came between a pair of veterans in reigning Olympic all-around champion Gabby Douglas and defending Olympic floor champion Aly Raisman for the second USA spot.
The other benefit of podium training is that it can be used to simulate the actual competition. Not 1-2-3 on the American team; 1-2-3 overall, 1-2-3 in the world, Douglas falling just shy of Raisman. Even the supposed weaker links, Hernandez and Kocian, will compete in separate event finals.
As expected, Douglas shined on the uneven bars, earning a score of 15.766 and a spot in the event final.
At this year’s games, those two athletes in the women’s all-around gymnastics category representing the United States will be Biles and Raisman, who edged out Douglas by just.476. Therefore, the fans believe Douglas should have been in the finals with superstar Biles, not Raisman.
“I feel like the two-per-country rule is fine”, Douglas said, who finished third in Olympic qualifying.
Raisman and Douglas are the only holdovers from the London team, although with Raisman it’s not always apparent she’s a veteran.
Next, they moved to vault, where Biles performed two of the world’s hardest vaults nearly flawlessly and was awarded the highest score of the entire meet, a 16.050.
On balance beam, Biles followed up a near flawless routine from Hernandez with one of her own to take top honors, finishing with a score of 15.633.
Three-time reigning world champion Simone Biles made her Olympic debut in flying fashion, going a flawless four-for-four and leading the individual competition by almost two points. “I was anxious because the coach said that I might get replaced on the team”. And that’s saying a lot, considering she’s only 22 years old. “This is what the team needs”.
Advertisement
“We’re stronger and better than we were four years ago and it’s going up and up”, said Britain’s Rebecca Downie. “Everyone knows struggle and that it can be a little rocky sometimes – for me it was very rocky – and people are drawn to that and inspired”.
