Ms Biles had a great Olympics.
I was impressed with her response to the media after her bobble on the beam got her
only a Bronze.
Standing next to Hernandez in the interview area afterward, Biles was asked if she was disappointed and if it fired her up for Tuesday's floor routine. "I don't know how to answer that," she said flatly.
Was she upset about the end of the "Drive for Five," the catchphrase coined to describe her quest for an Olympic-record five gold medals by a female gymnast at a single Olympics? This would have been a record-tying No. 4.
"Not necessarily," Biles said. "It's something you guys [in the media] shove into my head, but I don't put that much stress on myself because I am only 19, and I think you guys want it more than I do. I just want to perform the routines that I practiced."Cudos to her.
On another issue, did you note that many question the ages of the Chinese gymnasts (for the third time) (several are supposedly 16... going on 14). I found it interesting to read that while most Olympic sports have no age requirements, gymnastics requires females be 16, but males must be 18.
As a former sprinter, I always watch the 100 meter with special interest; the winner is usually hailed as the fastest human alive. Usain Bolt's third Olympic gold in the hundred (and many other championships) do make him the fastest man alive (and for all times). The committee's stupidity in only allowing a half hour between his (and USA Gatlin's) semifinal and final was glaring. Watching the final, Bolt got off to a slow start, and about midway he kicked in the afterburners, and passed the other world class sprinters with ease. (The crowd's booing of Gatlin was shameful, he's been drug free for nearly a decade, and is clearly the 2d fastest human alive)
It's one thing to have repeat Olympic victories in sports requiring special skills, but when it is raw power and speed, multiple repeats with advancing age is truly remarkable.
Bolt, Ledecky, Biles, and Phelps (and others), put us mere mortals to shame, physically.
Phelps says he's done. Maybe so, but you get the idea he could keep winning for years and years.
From Wiki: Several physical attributes particularly suit Phelps to swimming: his long, thin torso offers low drag; his arms span 6 feet 7 inches (201 cm)—disproportionate to his height of 6 feet 4 inches (193 cm)—and act as long, propulsive paddles; his relatively short legs lower drag, and perhaps add the speed enhancement of a hydrofoil; his size-14 feet provide the effect of flippers; and his hypermobile ankles can extend beyond the point of a ballet dancer, enabling him to whip his feet as if they were fins for maximum thrust through the water. His lungs have been reported to be nearly twice the size of the average human's, at 12 liters, but this has been questioned.
