‘We really fought’: Gymnasts rally together
TOKYO – Simone Biles could read the stress on her teammates’ faces. Moments after she withdrew from the Olympic team final, the greatest gymnast her sport has produced could tell the weight the rest of the American team was taking on in her absence.
She encouraged them, told them they could succeed without her. Sunisa Lee, Jordan Chiles and Grace McCallum huddled together, offering each other encouragement in a situation none thought they would be in.
By the end of the night, the U.S. women were silver medalists.
“It was very emotional, but in that moment, we all knew that we needed to come together as a team and build that leadership up together because we didn’t have Simone,” Lee said.
Biles took herself out of the meet after the team’s first event, withdrawing after failing to land a vault that is second nature for her. With her decision made that competing wasn’t worth risking injury or her team a medal, Biles offered a pep talk.
“I wasn’t worried,” Biles said. “I know they were a little bit worried going in and emotions were all over the place, but I think they just needed reassurance that they were going to be OK and they were.”
In the ways they could, the U.S. women tried to adjust.
McCallum was already in the lineup on all four events, and she saved herself from a fall on balance beam.
Chiles landed her bar routine despite not getting a warmup because Biles hadn’t returned to the competition floor and withdrawn.
Lee, a gold medal favorite on uneven bars, completed a flowing, seemingly weightless routine, floating from one bar to the next, to score 15.400 and tie Belgium’s Nina Derwael on the same apparatus for the highest scores of the competition.
Chiles anchored the balance beam rotation with a composed routine, switching her dismount for a double pike she could land more easily.
“They were tenacious. They came together to a common goal to do the best that they could for themselves and also for her and also for the team,” said Annie Heffernon, vice president of USA Gymnastics’ women’s program.
“I was just overcome with pride and I was very inspired by what they were able to do in this circumstance that they never dreamed would happen.”
Before the final, high performance coordinator Tom Forster changed the lineup, pulling Chiles from uneven bars and balance beam. She had been consistent all year before struggling in qualifying here, and Forster put McCallum in her place. She and Biles were the only ones slated to do all four events.
“At the end of the day, I was only thinking I was doing two events, but being able to put my feet in huge shoes at the end of the day is definitely a huge thing,” Chiles said. “We’re a team and we did this.”
The U.S. women have hardly had to imagine this kind of outcome. Biles last withdrew from a competition in 2013, pulling out of the U.S. Classic for fear of injuring herself on vault. The Americans won the 2017 world championship without her, but that’s only because Biles was taking time off after the Rio Olympics.
“It’s really hard to lose the best in the world, and we definitely felt a little more stressed,” McCallum said. “But I’m really proud of how we did. I think we did amazing. We really fought.”
The Americans came into the team final already in an unusual position. After several uncharacteristic mistakes and falls, including by Biles, they qualified behind the Russians. It marked the first time since 2010 that they didn’t qualify first at an Olympics or world championships.
Losing Biles, an almost unimaginable outcome, put them in an even more unfamiliar spot. But it’s one Biles thought they aced.
“They came out and they stepped up and they did what they needed to do, and more, especially last minute,” said Biles.
“This medal is all of them and the coaches and it has nothing to do with me because they did it without me.”