|
Biles, the most decorated gymnast of all-time,
made her much-anticipated return to the Olympic stage on Sunday
when she topped the all-around qualifying standings by a solid
margin and also finished as the leading contender for the floor
exercise and vault finals.
Following her success at the 2016 Rio Games, Biles is favourite
to win a second Olympic gold in the all-around. Three years ago
she withdrew from the event in Tokyo to prioritise her mental
health after suffering from the "twisties", a condition
involving the temporary loss of spatial awareness that some
gymnasts can experience when executing high-difficulty elements.
In Biles' absence, her teammate Sunisa Lee took the gold in
Tokyo. Lee, who finished third in qualifications behind Biles
and Brazil's Rebeca Andrade, will see her fellow American as the
biggest obstacle in her gold medal defence.
Biles led the United States to their fourth gold medal in the
women's gymnastics team event on Tuesday at the Paris Olympics,
with stellar performances on all four apparatus.
She had experienced calf pain during the qualifications but
seemed to be under no visible discomfort in the team final at
the Bercy Arena in Paris, where she competed with her left calf
taped.
(Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber, Karen Braun, Chang-Ran
Kim and Rory Carroll; Editing by Pritha Sarkar) [© 2024 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely
responsible for this content. |
|
