After over a decade in which the United States produced so many of its greatest gymnasts, from Gabby Douglas and Aly Raisman to Biles, leaving other nations in the dust, it is clear that the gap has narrowed again.Įarlier this year, the ROC’s own legendary gymnast, Aliya Mustafina, officially announced her retirement. The USA remain clear favourites to win their third Olympic team title in a row and Biles will still likely win the all around competition comfortably but it paints an interesting, shifting picture of the women’s gymnastics landscape. 3 points, she received an execution score of 9.6. There were, of course, still moments of supremacy from Biles dotted throughout the meet and none more so than in her dreamy 2 ½ Yurchenko vault which scored 15.400. Her teammates Grace McCallum and Sunisa Lee also contributed numerous minor errors while Jordan Chiles, who had been brilliantly consistent throughout this year, suffered her worst meet of the year and finished with a score of 52.698.
Following her mistake on floor, Biles also stepped off the vaulting mat on her Cheng vault and then she took four large steps back on her beam dismount. Sunisa Lee, Biles’s teammate, finished third with 57.166 points. Then outside the Olympic Stadium, fans often queued up to pose for photos with the Olympic rings, while the nearby Tokyo 2020 store was busy with people buying T-shirts, pins, and other memorabilia.Although Biles led all around qualifiers with a score of 57.731, she finished just three tenths ahead of Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade, who scored 57.399 and her surge in the final rotation very nearly led to her overtaking Biles for first place. The site, located on Yume no Ohashi Bridge, was rarely without a crowd taking pictures, even though notice boards and security advised members of the public to keep walking. Similar scenes played out about a kilometer away where the Olympic cauldron is on display. Francisco Seco/APįans may have been kept away from virtually all Olympic events amid the coronavirus pandemic, but that didn’t stop them trying to experience the Games in person as many clustered around venues to try to catch a glimpse of the action.Īt the Aomi Urban Sports Park, for instance, fans lining the adjacent pedestrian street had a distant view of the sports climbing competitions – despite signs and security officials urging people not to gather there.
Raven Saunders performs her X protest on the podium in Tokyo. Some put it down to a springy running track and advancements in shoe technology, while others credited the athletes themselves. Olympic records were also set by Elaine Thompson-Herah in the 100 meters and Jakob Ingebritsen in the 1500 meters. In the men’s 400 meter hurdles final, gold and silver medalists Karsten Warholm and Rai Benjamin ran faster than Warholm’s previous record by more than half a second, while Sydney McLaughlin also smashed the world record in the women’s 400 meter hurdles. Records are broken at every Games, but perhaps not in the same stunning fashion as they were in Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium. Skateboarding wasn’t the only sport added to the Olympic program in a bid to attract a younger audience sport climbing also sought to draw new fans to the Games with a head-to-head speed discipline and an unpredictable, down-to-the-wire scoring format.Įxpect more of the same at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, where breakdancing has been added to the event lineup. Great Britain's Sky Brown competes in the park skateboarding competition at the Tokyo Olympics, where she won bronze. That’s an average age of 14 across the two medal events. The podiums in the women’s street and park events had combined ages of 42 and 44 years old respectively. Take skateboarding – a sport that made its debut in Tokyo. While Biles and Felix may have both competed in their final Games, Tokyo 2020 also highlighted athletes at the start of their Olympic careers. “We are just lucky she is from our sport,” added Coe. Her Olympics career spans five Games, which World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said is” frankly, off the planet.” “For me to be able to step out – I think my daughter gave me the courage to do that.” “There have been so many women before me who had to stay silent about their fight,” Felix said of the way sport and athletics so often overlooks women’s careers during and after childbirth. The two medals she won in Tokyo also represent her role as an athlete mother. Simone Biles performs on vault during the women's final in Tokyo Natacha Pisarenko/APįellow American Allyson Felix became the most decorated US track and field athlete in history with 4x400 meter relay gold on Saturday.
0 kommentar(er)
