Biles fights through pain
American gymnast Simone Biles spent a portion of the night before her return to world championships in the emergency room. The sensation she chalked up to the usual pre-meet stress evolved into searing agony that at times left her crawling on the floor.
When a CT scan revealed a kidney stone – one she nicknamed ‘‘the Doha Pearl’’ – the Olympic champion grabbed her stuff and discharged herself from the hospital, telling the staff she’ll deal with the pain later.
‘‘I heard rollercoasters might help kidney stones,’’ Biles said. ‘‘And I’m like, ‘Well, I’m basically like my own little rollercoaster out there’.’’
One that turns each performance into a thrill ride of its own. Smiling through each twist, flip and turn, Biles, 21, was nearly flawless during qualifying yesterday, posting the highest scores on uneven bars, floor exercise and vault on her way to a total of 60.965 on a day when the Americans put up a team score of 174.429, a staggering 12 points clear of second-place Japan through six of 11 qualifying groups.
‘‘She’s Simone,’’ US high performance coordinator Tom Forster said. ‘‘You’d expect the same out of a Michael Jordan or a Tiger Woods and that’s who she is in our sport. And she showed it.’’
Biles did what she always seems to do when the rest of her sport is watching – she dominated. Her all-around total marked the highest in the world since her gold medalwinning total at the 2016 Olympics. And still she sees room for improvement.
Asked what she would give herself on a day she completed a vault in competition that will end up bearing her name the next time the code of points is updated, Biles shrugged and said ‘‘6 or 7’’.
Not bad considering Biles was initially concerned she had appendicitis, which would have forced her to sit out the competition entirely.
Instead it’s ‘‘just’’ a kidney stone, albeit one Biles believes she won’t be able to pass, meaning she’s going to have to deal with it throughout a very busy week that will include team finals, the all-around final and all four event finals.
Biles believes she’ll be fine. Even if she’s not quite 100 per cent, the gap between herself and the rest of the world is so sizeable it might not matter.
She finished five points ahead of teammate and 2017 world champion Morgan Hurd, whose score of 56.465 edged Japan’s Mai Murakami for second halfway through qualifying and assured Hurd of a spot in the finals.