ISSUES #22: MAY 2016
SEEDS-
April 2015
SIMONE BILES: BEAUTIFUL BALANCE
Simone Biles' performance at the AT&T American Cup on Saturday sent a loud enough message. A nearly 4.5-point win in gymnastics is almost unheard of.
But on a day when she executed the most difficult routines flawlessly, what she said afterward might speak louder to the women who hope to beat her in the Rio Olympics.
"I don't even know my own difficulty, so I think it's normal," said Biles. "I guess it's pretty easy for me sometimes, but I still have to train hard for it."
Yes, an athlete who just took a win comparable to your local college team beating up on the high school JV squad says the most difficult routines tried by any gymnast here are easy.
Biles won her first American Cup with nearly 200 friends and family in the crowd at AT&T Stadium. Fellow American MyKayla Skinner finished second, posting a 57.832 to finish 4.467 behind Biles' 62.299.
She won each event, no surprise coming from the two-time defending all-around World Champion. Already the overwhelming favorite to win Olympic gold in 17 months, Biles' performance raises the question: Just how big could that gap be?
To be sure, while the field included some of the world's top women gymnasts, tougher competitions remain, and Biles likely faces her biggest challenge from her American teammates. Reigning Olympic champion Gabby Douglas and Aly Raisman, a double gold medalist in London, are training in hopes of competing in Rio. And Biles, who missed American Cup last year with a shoulder injury, will need to stay healthy.
But as Biles showed again on Saturday, her ability to not only perform the toughest tricks but also do them without mistakes sets her above the rest of the field. She posted three of the four highest scores in the meet, including 16s and higher on floor exercise and vault.
Her start value was the highest on three of four events, with uneven bars being the only apparatus where she didn't have the most difficult routine. Yet she tied for the best execution score in that event, which has always been her weakest.
"She has all the events basically. She is able to make a small mistake and still be ahead of everybody," said Martha Karolyi, the U.S. national team coordinator. "That's the great advantage when you have the great start values."
For Biles, the biggest competition is with herself. Despite a win on beam by a good margin, a bobble left her disappointed. Her training in that event has been better than her competition showed here.
It was nearly her only mistake of the day, save for a small step back after landing her first tumbling pass on floor. Even starting with more difficult skills, Biles' execution forces judges to nitpick to find things like that. She had execution scores of 9.100 or higher on all but one event; the rest of the field combined for two.
Gymnasts looking to knock Biles off the top of the podium will need her to beat herself.
"She loves to win," said Aimee Boorman, Biles' longtime coach. "But she doesn't want to win because somebody else messed up. She wants to win because she did the best."
On uneven bars, Biles' least favorite event, the gap remains. Boorman says Biles is learning to swing bars rather than muscle them and that she needs to use the bars to her advantage like she uses the floor in tumbling.
"There are days that she likes bars, that she gets really excited about bars," said Boorman. "But she is starting to feel that she doesn't have a weak event, she just has some events that are better than others."
For her part, her performance in that event was what Biles said she was proud of. Considering that she landed an Amanar, one of the most difficult vaults in the world and one only a handful of women are doing, in the same competition, that's telling.
"I guess it just brought my confidence level up and I can swing bars if I put my mind to it," she said.
If she can, the rest of the world might be competing for second in Rio.
Whittenburg third: American Donnell Whittenburg took third at his first AT&T American Cup, winning the floor exercise and rings in his best showing in international competition. With control and power, Whittenburg led halfway through the competition before Ukranian Oleg Verniaiev took the lead on high bar, the final event and Whittenburg's weakest.
"It wasn't perfect, by any means. But I'm pleasantly surprised and satisfied," said Vitaly Marinitch, Whittenburg's coach. "It's huge. He doesn't get to realize that on a daily basis when he trains. He feels like an underdog. (This) boosts his confidence a great deal.
"Potentially, if he can improve a couple of events – like pommel horse and high bar – he can be one of the top all-arounders in the world. He's got a lot of difficult on the other events, and he seems to be getting more and more consistent."
Rights: Nancy Armour
SOURCE: http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2015/0
