GYMNASTICS American team dominates world championship
DOHA, Qatar — Relaxed, relieved and with the gold medal the U.S. women’s gymnastics team flew halfway across the globe for secured, Morgan Hurd needed a break. So the 17-yearold hopped on the back of Simone Biles and went for a brief ride, the teammates laughing all the way.
Sure, having the best gymnast on the planet tends to help while putting together a dynasty. Except the United States’ dominance in the sport — one that shows no signs of ending after the Americans won the world championship by a record 8.766 points Tuesday — goes far deeper than its 21-year-old superstar.
It’s 15-year-old Kara Eaker drilling her balance beam routine in her first major international meet. It’s 17-year-old Riley McCusker proving high-performance coordinator Tom Forster’s hunch correct by being rock steady on beam after a shaking performance in qualifying. It’s Grace McCallum celebrating her 16th birthday by producing on floor and vault. It’s Hurd posting top-five scores on vault and uneven bars on a day the U.S. put up the top overall scores by at least a full point in each of the four events.
The faces with which Biles shared the podium at the 2016 Olympics are gone. And yet the machine keeps rolling.
“It shows how strong the group of girls are and how strong Team USA is,” Biles said after collecting the 15th world championship medal of her career despite dealing with a kidney stone. “I feel like anything you guys throw at us, we’ll try to work even harder to improve ourselves and our scores for the team.”
The U.S. put up a total of 171.629 to win its fourth straight world title and secure a spot at the 2020 Olympics. Silver medalist Russia and bronze medalist China also earned Olympic berths by reaching the podium during a taut but occasionally sloppy final that showcased increased parity in the sport, at least for teams other than the U.S.
Biles said the Americans had a terrible warm-up session before making their way into the half-filled Aspire Dome. Then the lights came on and the U.S. did what it has done for the better part of a decade: It made the awfully difficult look remarkably easy.
Well, almost. The Americans weren’t perfect, even Biles. She looked angry after a beam routine in which she lost her balance while trying to land a front pike, forcing her to reach and hold on. She later stepped out of bounds during her first tumbling pass on floor exercise, a byproduct of her explosive power.
Yet they’re mistakes Biles and the rest of the U.S. can absorb without fear of getting caught. It’s simple math. The Americans put together the toughest routines and do them cleaner than everyone else.
It’s why Forster can afford to put McCusker on beam over Hurd in the final even though Hurd scored higher during qualifying. Even if McCusker had imploded, the team still would have been fine. Only she didn’t. Her score of 13.7 on Tuesday was markedly better and the boost to her confidence immeasurable.
“I knew my first-day performance was not my best,” McCusker said. “I was definitely very nervous going in. I feel like I got all those nerves out on the competition stage. I was ready to come in today and kill it.”
So she did. Forster, tasked with helping create a more positive culture, wanted to send a message to the rest of the program by giving McCusker another chance.
“We don’t write you off if you have a mistake,” Forster said. “Mistakes happen.”
Forster, hired in June, joked he’s finally going to get to sleep through the night. The same goes for the team, though the Americans will be plenty busy over the next few days. Three of the five women will be in at least one event final. Biles, nearly a year removed since she returned to training, will be in the all-around final and all four event finals.
Medals in each — Biles finished first in qualifying in everything but bars, in which she was second — would give her 20 in her career at world championships, tying the record for most ever. After that, she might take a breath.
“Definitely not slack off,” she said, “but it’ll definitely put our minds at ease.”
While the rest of the world remains on notice.