The winner is always the face of the sport, its showcase.
Ever since Simone Arianna Biles began to reign on the platform (out of respect for the four-time Olympic champion and 19-time world champion, let's call her her full name), Biles's face, Biles's body and her impenetrable equanimity have become the standard of world artistic gymnastics.
All the whispers that the American is making full use of the officially legalized right in the form of therapeutic exceptions to potent drugs that give the athlete the opportunity to compete without too much wear out of the nervous system were in favor of the poor: as the medals and titles attached to them accumulated, Biles turned into into the icon of their sport.
And what complaints can there be about the icon?
But at the most important moment of the Games, when not only the fifth individual Olympic title was at stake, but also the fate of the team championship, fate seemed to turn away from the American: Simona did not land very well on the vault, throwing 13,766 into the team's piggy bank, like alms, and a few minutes later, everyone who followed the course of the Russian-American confrontation through an electronic protocol gasped: the name of the American leader migrated to the very bottom on the remaining three shells, into the category of spare.
This meant that an outstanding athlete would no longer be on the platform.
A little later, on one of the American information sites, a sparse release-confirmation appeared: "Four-time Olympic champion Simone Biles will not participate in the final of the team tournament in the three remaining types of the program."
Athletes as grandiose as Biles are extremely piece goods.
When such an athlete performs as part of a team, he is like a wall for the rest, which in any situation will protect from all adversity, will take the blow of any force and will withstand.
Subconsciously, a similar thought always sits in the heads of teammates, and from this they have a completely different confidence, courage.
And then suddenly, at the most decisive moment and in front of the eyes of the whole world, the wall cracked and crumbled into small pieces.
What kind of courage is there?
Dodge the debris.
On this day, in general, everything was very suspiciously in favor of Russia. Starting from the fall of one of the leaders of the Chinese national team, Liu Yufei, in the very first form of the command program: the Chinese woman fell off the top pole, performing the flight, and with all her body fell on the mats. As a result, the Chinese women went to the fourth position, 2.733 behind Russia, and by and large they could be forgotten about their existence. Behind the backs of the Russian girls, losing to them by 1.067, the US team also nestled.
American women were able to compete with Russia on uneven bars only when Anastasia Lyukin played for the US national team: a girl of exquisite gymnastics training from a Soviet school with champion parents. Now, watching how Vladislav Urazova, Angelina Melnikova and Victoria Listunova perform their combinations, it was just right to recall the words of Olga Kuzhela, winner of the 2008 Games in synchronized swimming.
“Everything is like in ballet.
The whole world knows that Russian ballet is, first of all, fantastically beautiful legs.
The rise is slightly higher, the knee deflection is slightly stronger, and in general a very beautiful line is obtained, which not all soloists can boast of.
So Chinese synchronized swimming, with all its wonderful qualities, is not Russian ballet, ”the athlete said talking about the confrontation with Chinese women in her sport.
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Apparently, the gymnastic judges who served the team tournament adhered to a very similar point of view regarding the Russian girls and did not skimp on estimates: after two types of team all-around, Russia's advantage over the US team was already two and a half points.
In philosophical terms, world sports really needed Russia's victory at these Games.
At least in order to return female gymnastics to the hypostasis of tenderness, choreographic beauty, ideal lines and, at the same time, prohibitive complexity.
But, as they say, if a Russian athlete does not face an insurmountable obstacle, it must immediately be invented and courageously overcome.
Forgive me for the high syllable, but this is what was immediately demonstrated on the log, first by Urazova, and then by Angelina Melnikova. After their successive falls, the American women breathed in their backs. The difference in results still continued to develop in favor of Russia, but it was only 0.8 points and did not guarantee the Russian girls team gold at all. Moreover, the tension towards the final form reached a critical point, Vlada Urazova, who opened the performances on the carpet, became noticeably nervous, and the gap after her performance was reduced by another 0.134.
It was then that the US team and the time came to regret the irreparable loss in their ranks.
Performing one of the most difficult diagonals, powerful dark-skinned American Jordan Chiles, nicknamed "Chicken", could not stand on her feet, flopping with a spade over the carpet borders exactly to the place where the human back loses its name and passes into the legs.
Together with other blots, this mistake decided the outcome of the team struggle: the American got 11.700 for the exercise, and Russia got a handicap of more than three points.
So the 16-year-old debutante Vika Listunova and the team captain Angelina Melnikova were no longer too nervous to demonstrate the very gymnastics that at all times was considered the standard in the world.
And how the hell it was beautiful!