Tokyo (AFP)

They are not all Olympic champions but they are also writing the history of the Tokyo Olympics.

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Story of the day

In addition to his psychological torments, the superstar Simone Biles invoked what the gymnasts call the "loss of figure" to explain his withdrawal in full competition by team of the Olympics-2020, a loss of benchmarks in space which can be reinforced or caused by stress and above all endanger an athlete.

Suddenly, the athlete loses control, his body no longer responds and his bearings disappear, a kind of disconnection leading to disorientation.

"In a career, all gymnasts have loss of figure," Yann Cucherat, former director of the men's high level, told AFP.

A former gymnast himself, he has been confronted with this phenomenon for his outings on parallel bars in particular.

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Face of the day

It could have been that of Simone Biles, but it is that of Sunisa Lee that we will remember Thursday.

In the absence of the American superstar, it was her compatriot Sunisa Lee who became the Olympic champion in the all-around gymnastics competition.

An American therefore hunts another, as has been the case since 2004, with a new US gymnast at the top of the Olympics every four years.

Romania's Andreaa Raducan is the last non-American gymnast to be crowned in the all-around, in Sydney in 2000.

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Uncertainty of the day

Is there a cluster among the pole vaulters?

The announcement of the positive case of the American Sam Kendricks, double world champion (2017 and 2019), forced to withdraw on the eve of the start of athletics at the Games, and two days before the qualifications of the disciplines, has sparked panic among Australian athletes.

For two hours, the entire team was placed in isolation, while waiting for three of them, identified as contact cases of the American, to receive the negative result of their PCR tests.

If the athletes were then able to resume their activities, this is not yet the case for the three contact cases, which will be tested every day until the doubt is resolved, and who will not have the right to train. only under strict conditions.

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Perf of the day

King of the sprint on the Olympiad and two-time reigning 100m world champion, Caeleb Dressel won Olympic consecration in the queen race at the Tokyo Games on Thursday.

Since its explosion in 2017, Caeleb Dressel has followed in the footsteps of the legendary Michael Phelps.

But the American swimmer is not animated by the hunt for records and has learned to detach himself from the gaze of others in order to accomplish himself.

"I don't need people looking at me. What matters is just me, Troy (his coach, editor's note), my teammates and the pool, he says. I'm not looking to be famous . I just want to see how far I can go and try to harness my potential to the fullest. That's all. "

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Photo of the day

The distress of the German Dimitrij Ovtcharov, after his defeat in the semifinals of the table tennis tournament, against the Chinese Ma Long.

The weight of the result of a match, after five years of preparation, is thus summed up in one image.

© 2021 AFP