Biles leads US Championships despite somewhat off night

Lee puts up top bars score, 3rd on both beam and bars OCA holds Skateboarding Youth Camp in China

KANSAS CITY, Missouri, Aug 10, (AP): The competition isn’t the judges. Or the rest of the field. Or even the sport she’s dominated for the better part of a decade. Simone Biles conquered all of them long ago.

What drives Biles is the voice in her head, the one that tells the best gymnast in the world that perfection is the only standard, even while attempting skills that no other woman on the planet (and very few men) can match.

That’s why her anger was so palpable during the opening night of the US women’s gymnastics championships on Friday. She shorted her triple-twisting double-flip (a “triple double”) on floor, a mistake that the Olympic champion on the verge of tears. Her uneven bars were messy. The block on her Amanar vault dangerously close to disaster.

That her all-around total of 58.650 led Sunisa Lee by 1.750 – putting a sixth national title easily within reach heading into Sunday – is immaterial.

For Biles, that means packing her sets

The Olympic Council of Asia’s Skateboarding Youth Camp came to a close on Friday at the Longjiang Sports School in Nanjing, China.

The camp, which opened on July 29 and ran for 12 days, attracted 35 skaters and 19 coaches from 19 National Olympic Committees across Asia.

It was organised by the OCA in cooperation with the International Olympic Committee’s Olympic Solidarity and held under the auspices of the Chinese Roller Skating Association and World Skate Asia, Nanjing Sports Bureau and Long Jiang Sports School.

The Director General of the OCA, Husain Al Musallam, said the OCA was proud to host the first skateboarding youth camp in the Olympic movement.

“The OCA/OS Asian Skateboarding Youth Camp proved to be a big success and highlighted the popularity of skateboarding across Asia,” he said.

“The OCA included skateboarding for the first time in our

Opening ceremony group photo. Asian Games in Indonesia last year and this youth camp continues the momentum on the road to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, when the sport will make its debut.

“We have been very impressed with the high standard of the skateboarders at the youth camp, as well as their passion for the sport and their determination to improve. We feel the future of skateboarding in Asia is in good hands.”

The youth camp also introduced different aspects of the Olympic movement to the participants, with seminars on antidoping and Olympic values.

“The OCA recognises the importance of education and knowledge from an early age,” added Al Musallam.

“We also arranged visits to the Nanjing Olympic Museum and to tourist hotspots, notably the historic city walls, Xuanwu Lake, Confucius Temple and Qinhuai River, to expose the participants to the rich culture and history of China.

“We are sure that this youth camp has established a bright, new skateboarding community in Asia and the OCA will provide

Olympic Values Education Seminar all support for our Asian athletes to reach the top.”

The course, for athletes aged 18 and under, focused on the Street and Park styles of skateboarding and was led by chief instructor Gen Ogawa, the technical operations manager for skateboarding at Tokyo 2020.

“I think that everyone has been getting better and better,” said Ogawa. “This was seen in the Park and Street competitions held in the last two days.

“I was really surprised and happy to see that many people have already moved their skill up. I think we will see some of the skaters who were here in Nanjing at the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024. They are very young and still have time to learn.”

The OCA holds the Asian youth development camp in a different sport every year as an Olympic Solidarity-funded project and invites two athletes – one female and one male – and one coach from its member National Olympic Committees to attend.

Nanjing Olympic Museum visit.

Anti-doping workshop