Biles captures US Classic in return to gymnastics competition

HOFFMAN ESTATES -- Four-time Olympic champion Simone Biles made a triumphant return to gymnastics after a two-year hiatus, dominating the US Classic on Saturday in her first competition since the Tokyo Olympics.

Biles, a 19-time world champion, electrified a sellout crowd in suburban Chicago with a stunning performance, receiving an all-around judges' total score of 59.100 points.

"It felt really good, especially after everything that has happened over the past year," said Biles, who was married earlier this year.

"I got back out here and I did what I was training (to do) so I'm very happy with the result."

The meet was the last chance to qualify for the US nationals in three weeks at San Jose, California, and Biles is also hoping to compete for a title in Antwerp in October at the World Championships.

Biles used the US Classic as her comeback meet in 2018 after a lengthy break following her starring role at the 2016 Rio Olympics, which included gold in all-around, vault, floor and team.

While Biles has not announced if she will be making a bid to compete at next year's Paris Olympics, her superb comeback spectacle at the Classic at age 26 could be a first stride in that direction.

"We're still in the working steps," Biles said when asked about the Paris Games. "My main goal was this and then championships and after that we'll look on to worlds and then we'll see.

"So far it's heading in the right direction but I still have to work on myself. I'm still going to do my therapy. I'm going to put myself first."

Biles struggled at the Games in Japan in 2021 with mental health issues and the "twisties" -- a disorienting feeling while in mid-air that leaves gymnasts at greater injury risk when landing.

She was affected early in the Olympic team competition, pulled out of the all-around plus the vault, uneven bars and floor exercise disciplines before taking bronze on the balance beam.

"I always kind of knew (I'd return) as soon as everything happened in Tokyo," she said. "This time I'm doing it for me.

"I worked a lot on myself and I believe in myself a little bit more. It's just coming back out here and starting those first steps again."

Biles and her issues in Tokyo put a new emphasis on mental health struggles for elite athletes. She still faces them but with cheering supporters yelling for joy at her every routine, she knows she's not doing so alone.

"Everyone that was cheering -- made posters, all of that in the crowd -- it just made my heart melt that they still believe in me," Biles said.

"It means the world because after everything that transpired in Tokyo, I worked on myself a lot," Biles said. "I still do therapy weekly and it has just been so exciting to come out here and have the confidence I had before.

"It means the world because I feel like I lost a part of that sometimes, so to come back out here and do what I did tonight and have that support from the fans and everybody watching, I just couldn't thank them enough."

Biles began on the uneven bars, where her strong performance received a score of 14.000 points, third-best overall.

She followed by going first on balance beam and delivering a spectacular 14.800, the meet's top score.

Biles went last in rotation three on floor exercise and drew cheers during and after every tumbling run, her flips and landings on incredible passes bringing a roar at the finish of an effort that was rewarded with a meet-best 14.900 points.

She finished on vault and unleashed another epic performance, soaring high and landing well -- showing no signs of rust from the long layoff in earning a meet-best 15.400 score.

Leanne Wong, 19, finished second, five points off the pace on 54.100, with 17-year-old Joscelyn Roberson third on 54.050.

Biles elected not to perform some riskier moves in her return routines as part of her overall comeback strategy.

Agence France-Presse

History-seeking Biles makes flawed entrance at Tokyo Games

TOKYO, Japan -- American gymnastics superstar Simone Biles got off to a shaky start in her quest for five gold medals and Olympic history in Tokyo on Sunday, as an Uzbeki mother-of-one bid a poignant farewell after a remarkable career spanning eight Games.

At 46 years old, Oksana Chusovitina, gold medallist at her debut Olympics in Barcelona in 1992, has earned the right to occupy her time in more sedate ways than exploding up a 25 metre runway and somersaulting backwards over a vault against competitors younger than her son.

Among those rivals is Biles, who kept the wheels on her bid to level Soviet great Larisa Latynina's record of nine gymnastics gold medals, but her qualifying performances were peppered with rare imperfections.

On the floor, Biles over-rotated after one series of mesmerising tumbles and went off the mat, drawing a gasp from at least one onlooker in the near-deserted Ariake Centre.

She rolled her eyes after another unsteady landing over on the vault, and her performance director Tom Forster expressed disbelief after an untidy end to her beam routine.

"Simone took three big steps on the beam dismount, I've never seen her do that before," said Forster.

Biles qualified top in the all-around and vault, and was second on the floor, with the USA occupying the same position behind the Russians for Tuesday's team final.

But in the beam standings she paid for her flawed ending to lie sixth of the eight progressing.

Biles also booked a place for the uneven bars final, though, which the 19-time world champion missed at Rio 2016, as the eighth qualifier.

While there were many moments of dazzling Biles brilliance, Forster was thankful this was only qualifying.

"We're going to be okay... this is not the finals, this is getting into the finals, this might be a great awakening for us," he said.

He said there was work to do. "Mostly fixing steps on the floor. Staying in bounds would help," he added, putting the lapses down to "nerves".

Biles later chose to focus on the USA's team title defence rather than any personal ambitions of adding to all the precious metal on her sideboard.

"I feel we did a pretty good job. Obviously there are little things we need to work on, so we'll go back and practise and work on that, just so we can do our best performance at team finals, because that's what matters."

One gold medallist from Rio out of luck on Sunday was Sanne Wevers.

- 'Tears of happiness' -

The Dutch beam outgoing champion had to wait 13 minutes for the judges to announce her score but when they did it sent her not to the final, but to the airport.

"They've just told me I will be on the plane home tomorrow. So, my short-term future is just about packing my bags and going home," she said, adding that she had reached the same assessment of her routine as the judges "in a lot less time!".

Another gold medallist, but from much further back than Rio, departing Tokyo was the evergreen Chusovitina.

She received a hugely affectionate ovation from her team, rivals, media and photographers when she narrowly failed to qualify for the vault at her eighth and last Olympics.

Born in 1976, Chusovitina's Olympic odyssey began in Barcelona in 1992, where she won team gold, adding silver in the vault in Beijing 2008.

"We thank her for her contributions to artistic gymnastics," the stadium announcer said as teams, officials and journalists applauded.

She said later she had been crying "tears of happiness, because so many people have supported me for such a long time.

"I'm just so grateful."

Monday sees the first gymnastics title on offer with the men's team final.

Agence France-Presse

Biles breaks world record in women gymnastics

Simone Biles of the USA performs on the balance beam during women's team final at the gymnastics world championships in Stuttgart, Germany, Tuesday. Biles made history for winning her 21st world medal in women’s gymnastics after the US team won its fifth consecutive team title at the gymnastics world championships.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Gymnastics: Biles eyes yet another record performance at worlds

American Simone Biles will look to extend her legacy as one of the greatest gymnasts of all time as she bids to tumble her way to an unprecedented fifth women's all around title at the world championships in Stuttgart.

The owner of 20 world medals, including 14 golds, the 22-year-old could end the championships as the most decorated athlete in the competition's history by topping Belarusian Vitaly Scherbo's record haul of 23 medals.

A year ago, the four-time Olympic champion won a medal in all six of the events open to the women, and few would bet against her replicating the feat as she remains the front-runner with just nine months to go to the Tokyo Games.

New moves that she debuted at the U.S. nationals in August, such as her triple-twisting double backflip on the floor exercise, could help her secure glory.

“I don't have anything to prove to anybody,” Biles told Olympic Channel in August. “I'm out there doing it just for myself this time... and see how far I can push myself.”

More than 540 athletes from a record 92 nations will be showing off their skills at the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle in Stuttgart, and both teams and individuals will have the chance to qualify for next summer’s Games.

The Russian men are primed for success in the all-around with the return of champion Artur Dalaloyan and 2019 European champion Nikita Nagornyy.

China’s Xiao Ruoteng, the 2017 all-around winner, will be seeking redemption after losing the tie-breaker in last year’s all-around final.

OLYMPIC QUALIFICATION

The Russian, Chinese, and Japanese men have already earned a team berth to Tokyo by placing in the top three at last year’s worlds in Doha.

The U.S., Russian, and Chinese women have done the same. In Stuttgart, the top nine teams that did not already qualify in 2018 will secure their Olympic spot.

Some of the top teams looking to punch their ticket for Tokyo include Canada, France, Japan, Brazil, Britain, Germany, and the Netherlands on the women’s side and the United States, Britain, Switzerland, Brazil, the Netherlands, and Ukraine on the men’s side.

A long-time powerhouse in gymnastics, the Romanian women will eye a spot in Tokyo after failing to qualify for the 2016 Rio Games. They had won a team medal at every previous Olympics since 1976.

Those looking to lay down the marker before Tokyo include 2018 apparatus champions Nina Derwael of Belgium on the asymmetric bars and China’s Liu Tingting on balance beam.

Derwael’s bar work stands out due to her extreme difficulty, but she will be tested by American Sunisa Lee.

France's Melanie de Jesus dos Santos will also be hoping to be in the mix after her all around triumph at the European championships.

Russia’s Angelina Melnikova will return after narrowly missing medals in Doha on floor and in the all around, while Uzbekistan's Oksana Chusovitina will be out to prove that life as a top level gymnast can go on and on as she will be competing in her 17th world championships aged 44.

Flying Dutchman Epke Zonderland always puts on a show in the horizontal bar will be determined to add to his haul of six world medals in the event.

Japan will be missing some top athletes due to injury, including six-time world all around champion Kohei Uchimura on the men’s side. For the women, Mai Murakami, floor champion at 2017 worlds and all-around runner up in Doha, is also sidelined.

The competition will run from Oct. 5 to Oct. 13.

(Editing by Pritha Sarkar)

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Gymnastics: Breathtaking Biles 'unbeatable,' rivals say

LOS ANGELES -- Simone Biles continues to push the boundaries of her sport to the point even the American gymnast's rivals can only watch in admiration.

Sunisa Lee said she was "super happy" to take the all-around silver medal at the US championships this weekend, where Biles capped her record-tying sixth national all-around title with a never-before-seen "triple-double" floor exercise landing -- a finale featuring two flips and three twists.

Even Biles admitted she couldn't wait to see the replay of the move, whipping out her phone between rotations to check out the video.

"I didn't want to be the last person to see it," she said.

Biles -- who already has a vault skill and a floor exercise maneuver named for her as their originator -- pressed the limits in balance beam in Kansas City, too, with a double-flip, double-twist beam dismount.

Lee was more than content with her silver, while Morgan Hurd, who finished fourth, called Biles "superhuman".

"I do consider it a win, just because she's unbeatable," Lee said.

Biles' performance in Kansas City was a glimpse of what she has in store for the World Championships, which are being held in Stuttgart over October 4-13.

The German event is a forerunner to the 2020 Tokyo Games, where Biles will be aiming to add to the five medals -- four of them gold -- that she won at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016.

Even as Biles continues to astonish in competition, she admitted as the national championships began that it was "not easy coming back to the sport, coming back to the organization that has failed you."

She was among more than 200 athletes abused by former US gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar and has been an outspoken critic of how US Gymnastics and the US Olympic Committee failed to protect athletes.

While she continues to wrestle with the aftermath, Biles's joy was evident on Sunday when she posted a picture of herself on Instagram.

"That feeling when you make history ... twice," the beaming gymnast wrote.

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US women run riot as Biles gets first Games gold

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- Simone Biles got her bid for a record five gold medals at the Rio Olympics off to a flying start as the United States women coasted to a team gymnastics title defence on Tuesday.

The five-woman US team -- Biles, Gabby Douglas, Aly Raisman, Madison Kocian and Laurie Hernandez -- claimed gold by a margin of over eight points on Russia with China winning bronze in the Rio Olympic Arena.

"It's everything and more than I'd hoped it to be," said Biles, 19, who was too young to compete in London 2012.


She has dominated women's gymnastics over the past three years -- winning ten world titles -- and is looking to aad to her haul in the all-around, floor, beam and vault finals in Rio.

"It didn't feel like the Olympics. That helped us," said the Texan. "It felt like one more routine and we kept calm."

The weight of expectation after leading qualifiers by over 10 points had only made them stronger, said Raisman, a gold medal winner in London.

"We were heavy favourites, but we tried to use that pressure as motivation," said the 22-year-old.

The US women become the first team to win back-to-back Olympic golds since Romania in 2000 and 2004. It was their third gold after winning a first in Atlanta 1996.

Three-time world all-around champion Biles was the only American to compete on all four apparatus -- vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor - with all scores counting and no room for error.

She made it look easy as hit 15.933 on the vault, followed by 14.800 on uneven bars, on which world champion Kocian gave a spectacular display of aerial acrobatics to lead the way with 15.933.

At the halfway point the US women were almost home and dry having already pulled over four points ahead of China and Russia.

Biles wobbled slightly on the beam but held allowing the US to confidently stride into the final rotation on floor with almost a five-point lead on China.

- Samba finale -

China's Mao Yi slipped off the mat on the floor routine, ending the 2008 champions' challenge for silver, after Shang Chunsong had earlier tumbled off uneven bars.

And taking to the floor last Biles turned on an acrobatic display of tumbling to Brazilian Samba music which proved a hit with the home crowd to seal a victory which was never in doubt.

The United States scored 184.897, with Russia scoring 176.688 with China, 176.003, returning to the podium after failing to medal in London.

"I still feel a little sad because we made two big mistakes," said Shang. "If we only made one mistake, we might have won the silver medal."

It was a return to the top of the podium again for Douglas, 20, who took two gold in 2012 but lost her all-around title after missing the cut for Thursday's final.

"I have found great joy again. It's amazing to be out there and to experience this with these wonderful girls," said Douglas, who competed on just one apparatus -- the uneven bars. "We were just having fun and went out there to do what we had to do."

Russia, spearheaded by Aliya Mustafina, took silver as in 2012.

"Obviously the USA are much stronger now but in the future we will challenge again for first place," said Mustafina, who won four medals in London.

The former Soviet Union won the team event a record nine times with Russia winning their fourth silver medal.

Brazil finished last in the eight-team final with Rebeca Andrade strumbling out of her final tumble on floor after Flavia Saraiva gave a tentative display on the beam.

Japan failed to follow their men's team onto the podium finishing fourth ahead of Great Britain, Germany, the Netherlands and Brazil.

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