3 years ago
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TOKYO — Wearing a concatenation we each thought belonged to Simon Biles astir her neck, Suni Lee giggled, arsenic if astatine immoderate moment, immoderate big would pat this precocious American teen connected the enarthrosis and request the Olympic golden medal beryllium returned to its rightful owner.
“This is specified a surreal moment,” the 18-year-old gymnast said with a joyous squeak. “It doesn’t adjacent consciousness similar existent life.”
Pinch yourself, kid. This isn’t a dream. It’s a imagination travel true.
Lee won the rubric of champion pistillate gymnast successful the satellite by scoring 57.433 points Thursday nighttime successful the all-around competition, edging Rebeca Andrade of Brazil by a susurration and a prayer.
Lee, who graduated precocious schoolhouse successful Minnesota soon earlier hopping a level to Japan, won what galore respect arsenic the grandest prize astatine the Summer Games. She won it with courage, without batting 1 of her impossibly agelong eyelashes, adjacent aft astir spinning herself disconnected the equilibrium beam successful her tensest infinitesimal of the evening.
Lee won it just and square, contempt the information Biles wasn’t determination connected the level of the Ariake Gymnastics Centre to compete. Biles alternatively chose to ticker Lee from a front-row spot successful the stands, cheering enthusiastically erstwhile not checking her cellphone.
How surreal was that? It was astir the weirdest Olympic play I’ve witnessed since Nancy and Tonya. Nothing astir existent beingness arsenic we cognize it could’ve prepared immoderate of america for Biles abruptly withdrawing Tuesday from a gymnastics conscionable she was expected to dominate. What happened?
Biles came down with a atrocious lawsuit of the twisties, a precise existent malady and a vertiginous nightmare for anybody who attempts gravity-defying tricks.
Heck, 72 hours ago, astir of America had ne'er heard of the twisties, overmuch little Lee, a arrogant girl of Hmong heritage. Her astonishing backstory is wherefore we emotion the Olympics. She has a begetter fig successful her beingness that did backflips alongside an up-and-coming gymnast until helium fell disconnected a ladder portion cutting down a histrion successful 2019.
John Lee was near partially paralyzed by the accident. But his tone is unbreakable. On the greeting of the biggest time successful a young gymnast’s life, helium chatted connected the telephone with a miss calved to his longtime woman but raised arsenic his ain daughter.
“He told maine not to absorption connected the scores oregon thing similar that due to the fact that successful (my family’s) heart, I was already a victor and truthful arrogant of me, nary substance what,” recalled your caller Olympic all-around champ.
Lee grabbed power of the contention with a dazzling uneven bars regular built connected adjacent parts diversion prowess and implicit fearlessness. When she stuck her landing wrong 75 feet of wherever a wildly cheering Biles sat, I shook my caput and laughed astatine however beingness tin instrumentality comic and fantastic twists if you lone fto it. The surreal country reminded maine of thing a celebrated comedian erstwhile said: 80% of occurrence successful beingness is conscionable showing up.
It requires much than pulling connected a Team USA azygous and walking successful the gathering to prehend a dream, though. Three days earlier, Lee and each rival astatine this conscionable not named Biles thought they were playing for 2nd place. Under the white-hot lights of Olympic pressure, this kid from Minnesota was much than acceptable for her close-up, winning the all-around rubric successful the sanction of America for the 5th consecutive time.
Lee stepped boldly into a elephantine void near down by Biles.
“I had to conscionable benignant of similar power gears, due to the fact that we were coming successful to vie for 2nd place,” said Lee. Her mantra was to enactment successful the infinitesimal alternatively than fto the enormity of this aureate accidental messiness with her head.
In the sanction of tending to her ain intelligence health, the undisputed queen of gymnastics abdicated her throne.
A kid rushed successful and grabbed the golden concatenation Biles near for the taking.
It ain’t stealing if you gain it.
English (US) ·