TOKYO – Simone Biles and the American Woman seemed far from the golden juggernaut but it was announced.
The Americans finished second after Russia in qualifying on Sunday, the first time since the 2010 World Championships that they failed to finish first in the playoffs, the World Team Finals or the Olympics. Goal-scoring begins again in the team finals on Tuesday, but another performance like this and the women will be looking at one of the most epic upheaval in Olympic history.
American women came to Tokyo heavily favored to win the Olympic gold for the third time in a row, and the joke was that they had to miss the bus to not win. But whether it was buying into their hype or just a day off that hadn’t been seen in over a decade, Americans had none of the instrumental differentiation that became their brand.
It started with the first routine, when Grace McCallum bounced off limits on her first pass. But everyone had a hand in this disaster. Sonny Lee’s floor routine wasn’t shaky, and her basement had landed low. Jordan Chiles, who hasn’t made a huge mistake in her previous four encounters this year, dragged her feet on the carpet as she went from high to low bar, falling off the balance beam.
Even Bills was not immune. She bounced off the carpet on a practice floor, her feet almost slipping from under her, and also landed outside her first vault, both errors three-tenths in deductions. It also overcooked it on the balance beam and tripped three steps back.
Biles still leads the overall standings and will make the finals of an event in vault, floor and crossbar, keeping her chances of winning five gold medals alive. But the reality of the day seemed to sink in as Biles waited for her beam pitch, a grim look on her face.
“Hopefully we can fight and fight too. That’s the expectation for us,” said Russian Angelina Melnikova of the prospects for angering the Americans.
Even before the meet ended, USA Gymnastics said the women wouldn’t stop in the mixed zone, a departure from the norm for even the top American athletes at the Olympics. Even after Sweden was embarrassed at their Olympic opening game on Wednesday night, members of the US women’s soccer team stopped by to speak.
Jade Carey was the only American to perform in each event, but she was competing as an individual, so her results didn’t count toward the team’s qualification. Curry missed the overall final due to the rule limiting states to two gymnasts in the final, but she qualified for vault and floor.
Despite the overall poor performance, the Americans had some bright spots. Lee did an amazing routine for uneven bars, easily floating from bar to bar and making even the most intricate combinations look like child’s play. This was a less insane difficulty in her crazy hard routine, but she scored 15.2, which would be tough for anyone else to qualify for the top.
That helped give Lee a total of 57,166, second only to Biles in the overall standings.
Biles stayed tied up on her first pass, the twisting and double somersault that was causing her problems in the National Championships and Olympic Trials.
As the women waited to leave Earth, they dressed up soberly, as if they understood that while they were the best team in the world, even the best team could feel humbled.
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