Simone and her siblings were in and out of foster care until Shanon’s father, Ronald Biles, and his wife, Nellie, stepped in and adopted Simone when she was six years old.
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Where to start judging Biles after her romp to gold in the gymnastics all around?
Lochte’s unusual hair aside, here’s how good he is: He’s gunning for his 13th medal on Thursday, which would make him the most decorated swimmer in Olympic history not named Phelps. And now, finally, an Olympic champion.
Three more golds, and her name will start coming up whenever Olympic greats are debated.
“I feel like I did my job tonight”.
No, Biles will never have an overall medal haul that will stack up with Michael Phelps.
“To me, I’m just the same Simone – I just have two Olympic Gold medals now”.
On a day of firsts for Olympic golf, Marcus Fraser of Australia had the one that mattered – the first-round lead.
Biles was also the second black American in a row to win the competition – an unprecedented feat in Olympics history.
“No one goes in thinking they can beat Simone”, teammate Aly Raisman said after winning the all around silver.
A few other numbers trickled out in the aftermath of Thursday’s all-around, providing additional confirmation for what many fans had already decided, that the 4-foot-8 Biles is the greatest gymnast of all time.
Harrison, 26, is expected to retire from judo and has said she’s contemplating joining the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
The three-time world champion finished with a total of 62.198 points, 2.1 ahead of Raisman to add the Rio Games all-around title to her closetful of gold medals. Gabby Douglas won gold by.259 points in 2012.
No, Biles doesn’t allow pressure to burden her, which was clear Thursday as she swept the crowd along on her acrobatic romp, leaping to stupefying heights and shimmying to a samba beat.
The way Biles is handling this Olympic gymnastic competition so far, anything seems possible. She never wanted to push the talented Biles too hard or too fast because she’s seen too many gymnasts burn out or get hurt. Biles earned the first one on Tuesday while serving as the exclamation point to retiring national team coordinator Martha Karolyi’s going away party. “I was quite edgy and a bit jumpy on the first tee because it’s such a big occasion to be here at the Olympics. Those are the culminations of our career”.
Her powerful performance came on a day the Rio Games turned aside the disconcerting lime-like waters at the aquatics center and toward the emerald green fairways as golf returned to the Olympics for the first time in 112 years. She led her teammates to the team gold to kick off her Olympics, then calmly did her thing on the balance beam to take a commanding lead before capping off the night with a strong effort on the floor event. Making this historic moment even more special, according to NBC Olympics, their victories on Thursday mark the second time in history that two USA gymnasts have finished 1-2 in an Olympics all-around, after Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson at the 2008 Beijing Olympics – and if that’s not enough to move you, these photos of their close friendship will give you all the feels.
“It’s even inspired me as a coach”, Curran said. “It was just kind of a train wreck”.
Boorman, who has coached the 19-year-old Biles for 11 years, talks a lot about safety and health.
It would be six years before Shanon, now 44, would see her daughter again. I walked into Aly’s room and said “I have a very good feeling about today”. “I just stay out of it”.
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Left unsaid was that she does it better than anyone ever has before.
