U.S. puts the world on notice
America’s women gymnasts lap the field as Biles leads star-spangled team charge
RIO DE JANEIRO — Every set of eyes in the Rio Olympic Arena on Sunday afternoon was fixed on Simone Biles, gymnast No. 391 in your Olympic Games program, the day’s final performer, anchor on the USA Gymnastics women’s team, pound for pound and inch for inch arguably the most accomplished athlete in the world.
For the next 80-plus seconds, Biles “broke the beam” — the phrase gymnasts use for a tough, aggressive, high-flying trek on and above the treacherous 4-inch-wide block of wood.
She handled it like a pro, and when she was done, she ran squealing like an excited teenager into the arms of her USA Gymnastics teammates — as usual, the best performer on the best team in the world.
With Biles in the forefront, the USA Gymnastics women’s team dominated Sunday’s team qualifying session, outperforming second-place China by more than nine points and the other qualifying teams by more than 10, taking another step toward what appears to be an unstoppable march to another Olympic team gold medal Tuesday night.
Biles, 19, of Spring, scored 62.366 points in the all-around qualifying event to lead her teammate — 2012 gold medalist Aly Raisman — by 1.7 points and defending all-around gold medalist Gabrielle Douglas by 2.1 points.
Along with qualifying for the all-around final later this week, she also qualified for event finals in vault, balance beam and floor exercise as the day’s top scorer in each event, solidifying her position as the favorite to win as many as five gold medals at the Rio Olympics.
“Everyone (on the U.S. team) there performed like we trained,” she said. “I didn’t let the nerves and being the last one and the crowd looking at me get to me. I landed my dismount and, oh, my gosh, it was like ‘We’re done. We’re officially Olympians.’
“I don’t think we could ask for anything more. It didn’t feel like
the Olympics, because we took it one event at a time and didn’t let the pressure of the Olympics get to us.”
They’re not officially gold medalists yet, of course, although only a historically seismic disturbance could displace their rock-solid domination over the rest of the world.
Douglas just misses
Biles and Raisman advanced to all-around finals as the top scorers, and Douglas in third place would have advanced, too, but for the International Gymnastics Federation rule that only two gymnasts from the same country can advance to allaround or event finals.
“I would have loved to go out there and defend my title,” Douglas said. “But right now, I’m just rejoicing. I’m not disappointed because there’s nothing to be ashamed about.”
Madison Kocian of Dallas and Douglas went 1-3 on uneven bars, the only event in which Biles didn’t make finals.
Biles and Lauren Hernandez were 1-2 on balance beam, and Biles and Raisman were 1-2 on floor, crowding Hernandez, who ranked fourth, out of the finals because of the two-gymnast rule. Biles was the lone U.S. vault finals qualifier.
For Aimee Boorman, coach of the U.S. team and Biles’ personal coach for the last 11 years, it was a pleasant day at the office.
“The girls were so prepared, not only physically but mentally,” Boorman said. “It’s a nice place to be. They trusted their skills and trusted the numbers they put in during practice.”
From start to finish, there were relatively few moments in which the U.S. women fell short of excellence. Douglas stepped out of bounds on floor, Biles had a tiny hop on her bars dismount and Raisman had a balance check on beam but stayed on.
Strength in numbers
Just about the only downside was that only two Americans will be able to compete in the all-around finals when the potential would be there for a U.S. sweep if the rules allowed it.
“(Raisman and Douglas) are both great competitors, and it was going to come down to what they brought to the floor,” Boorman said, “I don’t like (the two-gymnast rule) because the best athletes should be competing.”
In truth, the U.S. probably could have had the top four all-arounders had Hernandez been allowed to compete on all four events; she gave way to Kocian, the defending world champion, on uneven bars.
But even with individual aspirations to come, Sunday was a day for team goals, and the women of USA Gymnastics delivered.
“Today we made everyone proud,” Biles said.