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Vinay Nayudu
Doha
Any contest which has a USARussia battle line, can be intriguing.
The women’s team final of the 48th FIG Artistic Gymnatsics World Championships Doha 2018 on Tuesday evening at the Aspire went on similar lines. Interestingly, both teams had their fair share of mistakes, but in the end it was Team USA led by their superstar member Simone Biles who emerged victorious with ease.
It was the diminutive Biles’ first competition since the Rio Olympic Games in 2016 and she claimed her 11th world title.
The US team of Biles, Grace McCallum (who also celebrated her 16th birthday), Morgan Hurd, Riley McCusker and Kara Eaker collected 171.629 points, nine ahead of silver-medallist Russia on 162.863 points with China third on 162.396.
Such has been the dominance of the US women in gymnastics that they have now won every world and Olympic title since 2011.
This one was, however, more special for Biles as she is making her return to the world stage after deciding to take a year off in 2017 following her big show at the Rio Olympics, where she won four golds.
But it wasn’t as smooth and flawless as even Biles got blurred and made some errors on the balance beam. But then, her compatriot Kara Eaker produced a strong showing to record the best score of the competition in the discipline. And the USA were back in reckoning.
“Mistakes happen. But it’s just instilled in us. We also know the expectations that we have on ourselves whenever we go out there, so I think that’s what keeps us going,” an excited Biles soon after after the golden triumph.
“Overall (it was) pretty good. I felt really good. It’s exciting to be out there, especially with the group of girls we had tonight. It felt unreal. I can’t believe its World Championships and we’re competing again!”
On extending the streak of consecutive USA team golds at Worlds to four, she quipped, “It’s exciting to keep the streak going, but we have to hold up upon ourselves every time we go out there.”
Did in with a margin of 8.766 points, Russia were left to ponder their own mistakes.
“Our gymnasts managed to fulfill the main task, which was to finish in the top three and qualify for the Olympics,” their delegation head Andrei Rodionenkio said.
Russia’s head coach Yevgini Grebionkin said, “Unfortunately the big finals started with a trauma for us as our gymnast Angelina Simakova got injured but our other athletes managed to get together and we performed well.”
Their leader Aliya Mustafina defended her teammate Lilia Akhaimova’s stumble on vault saying, “We were taught to always focus not on the mistakes, but on the things we’ve done well. We were aiming to qualify for the (2020 Tokyo) Olympic Games. We had a target and we met.”
Mustafina, back in action after becoming a mother in June 2017, on her part excelled on the uneven bars for a score of 14.500 attracting loud cheers.
For China, Lin Jinru did very well on the vault (14.366) to help her team grab the bronze and a ticket to Tokyo.
Biles, who posted her highest scores on the uneven bars and vault, came in for praise from the Russian coach who said, “Simone Biles is a very respected athlete and she deserves the best for her work. She’s definitely one of the leaders in today’s gymnastics. However, our Russian team is also very good and we can compete at the highest level.
“When it comes to USA, they have a big bench besides their top team, in our case if one girl cannot perform for some reason then the team suffers. We can rise, but the US team deserve the title.”
The Russian men’s team had also settled for the silver on Monday.
Doha
Any contest which has a USARussia battle line, can be intriguing.
The women’s team final of the 48th FIG Artistic Gymnatsics World Championships Doha 2018 on Tuesday evening at the Aspire went on similar lines. Interestingly, both teams had their fair share of mistakes, but in the end it was Team USA led by their superstar member Simone Biles who emerged victorious with ease.
It was the diminutive Biles’ first competition since the Rio Olympic Games in 2016 and she claimed her 11th world title.
The US team of Biles, Grace McCallum (who also celebrated her 16th birthday), Morgan Hurd, Riley McCusker and Kara Eaker collected 171.629 points, nine ahead of silver-medallist Russia on 162.863 points with China third on 162.396.
Such has been the dominance of the US women in gymnastics that they have now won every world and Olympic title since 2011.
This one was, however, more special for Biles as she is making her return to the world stage after deciding to take a year off in 2017 following her big show at the Rio Olympics, where she won four golds.
But it wasn’t as smooth and flawless as even Biles got blurred and made some errors on the balance beam. But then, her compatriot Kara Eaker produced a strong showing to record the best score of the competition in the discipline. And the USA were back in reckoning.
“Mistakes happen. But it’s just instilled in us. We also know the expectations that we have on ourselves whenever we go out there, so I think that’s what keeps us going,” an excited Biles soon after after the golden triumph.
“Overall (it was) pretty good. I felt really good. It’s exciting to be out there, especially with the group of girls we had tonight. It felt unreal. I can’t believe its World Championships and we’re competing again!”
On extending the streak of consecutive USA team golds at Worlds to four, she quipped, “It’s exciting to keep the streak going, but we have to hold up upon ourselves every time we go out there.”
Did in with a margin of 8.766 points, Russia were left to ponder their own mistakes.
“Our gymnasts managed to fulfill the main task, which was to finish in the top three and qualify for the Olympics,” their delegation head Andrei Rodionenkio said.
Russia’s head coach Yevgini Grebionkin said, “Unfortunately the big finals started with a trauma for us as our gymnast Angelina Simakova got injured but our other athletes managed to get together and we performed well.”
Their leader Aliya Mustafina defended her teammate Lilia Akhaimova’s stumble on vault saying, “We were taught to always focus not on the mistakes, but on the things we’ve done well. We were aiming to qualify for the (2020 Tokyo) Olympic Games. We had a target and we met.”
Mustafina, back in action after becoming a mother in June 2017, on her part excelled on the uneven bars for a score of 14.500 attracting loud cheers.
For China, Lin Jinru did very well on the vault (14.366) to help her team grab the bronze and a ticket to Tokyo.
Biles, who posted her highest scores on the uneven bars and vault, came in for praise from the Russian coach who said, “Simone Biles is a very respected athlete and she deserves the best for her work. She’s definitely one of the leaders in today’s gymnastics. However, our Russian team is also very good and we can compete at the highest level.
“When it comes to USA, they have a big bench besides their top team, in our case if one girl cannot perform for some reason then the team suffers. We can rise, but the US team deserve the title.”
The Russian men’s team had also settled for the silver on Monday.
