Her heart was in it, but her head was not. And when Simone Biles lost her bearings in mid-air during a relatively simple vault in the first rotation of the women’s team competition, she knew the risks were too great for her to continue attempting to perform the dazzling skills she had always pulled off with an assurance that disguised their danger.
Some of her innocence and enthusiasm were stolen when she was sexually assaulted by Larry Nassar, the former national team doctor who abused hundreds of women, including many elite gymnasts. Some of the delight she derived from the sport was crushed by feeling the weight of the world on her shoulders, as she said in an Instagram post earlier this week.
The Russian women, who won silver in the 2016 Rio team competition, have developed some extraordinary talent the past few years. They had outscored the Americans in the qualifying phase on Sunday. Even with Biles in the U.S. lineup, Tuesday’s competition figured to be close. “It was the first time that we were competing for gold, not for silver,” said Angelina Melnikova, the only Russian from the 2016 team to return for these Games.
“I felt pretty comfortable coming into the Olympic Games and I don’t really know what happened but just going through each of the days and of the training it just felt a little bit tougher. Going out there tonight could have gone better in my opinion because warmup wasn’t that bad. Still struggling with some things. Wasn’t too bad. Once I got out here it was just like, ‘You know what, I’m going to take a back seat. Let these girls go out there and do their thing,’ and they did it.
Спасибо за упорную борьбу.С любовью из России🇺🇸🇷🇺
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