Biles shines as USA reclaims Olympic gold as Olympic chiefs left to sweat

AFP | Paris

The Daily Tribune - www.newsofbahrain.com   

Simone Biles won the fifth Olympic gold of her legendary career when she led the United States to a dominant victory in the women’s gymnastics team final on Tuesday, as Paris organisers were left sweating on the pollution in the Seine.

On a sweltering day in the French capital, the hottest ticket in town was at the Bercy Arena where Biles was attempting to lay to rest the ghosts of Tokyo in 2021.

And the 27-year-old American, considered the greatest gymnast of all time, and her team did just that to add to her four gold medals at the 2016 Rio Games. In swimming, Australia’s Kaylee McKeown won gold in the women’s 100m backstroke.

Three years after Biles battled a disorientating mental block at the Tokyo Games, pulling out of the team final in which the United States settled for silver, she and teammates Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Sunisa Lee led wire-to-wire in reclaiming gold ahead of Italy, with Brazil taking bronze.

For Biles it marks a return to the Olympic summit after a two-year break as she focused on her mental health. Lee, the all-around champion in Tokyo, has since dealt with two career-threatening kidney ailments.

Once again the stars were out for Biles. Serena Williams, Nicole Kidman and Microsoft founder Bill Gates were in attendance, as was Biles’s husband, NFL player Jonathan Owens, in a T-shirt emblazoned with his wife’s name and picture. At the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Olympics Biles battled the disorientating mental block gymnasts call the “twisties”.

She dramatically pulled out of most of her events, but she still left the Japanese capital with a silver and a bronze, and won plaudits for opening up on her mental health.

Seine setback

Earlier, in a massive blow to Olympic organisers who have repeatedly vowed that the River Seine would be safe to swim in, Tuesday’s men’s triathlon race was called off hours before the start after last-minute water-quality tests.

A joint statement from Paris 2024 and World Triathlon blamed the spike in pollution levels on the heavy rain that drenched Paris on Friday and Saturday.

The men’s triathlon has been rescheduled to Wednesday, immediately after the women’s event, leaving Games chiefs keeping their fingers crossed.

Paris baked in temperatures reaching 35 degrees Celsius (95 Fahrenheit) on Tuesday in a challenge to athletes at outdoor competitions, but a major storm was forecast later in the day, raising serious doubts over whether Wednesday’s rescheduled events could go ahead.

Heavy downpours still overwhelm the city’s underground drains and sewage system, leading to untreated effluent being released into the waterway.

If water quality does not improve in time, the swimming leg of the event would be removed and the race converted to a duathlon.

World Triathlon president Marisol Casado said she was hopeful the races could take place on Wednesday. “We are all disappointed because we are not able to follow strictly what was planned,” she told a press briefing.

Benjamin Maze, the technical director of the French Triathlon Federation, told FranceInfo radio there was “a bit of anger” among competitors who had risen early only to learn of the postponement.

“The athletes got up a bit before 4:00am, they were having breakfast when we received the information from the international federation,” he said. “Obviously there’s a bit of anger and a lot of disappointment.”

Coco Gauff, the world number two and one of Team USA’s flagbearers, crashed out of the tennis singles in a stormy defeat to Croatian Donna Vekic at a roasting Roland Garros.

Vekic won 7-6 (9/7), 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals after Gauff claimed she was “getting cheated” in an argument with the chair umpire over a line call in the sixth game of the second set.

The fallout continued from Friday’s quirky opening ceremony, which was condemned by religious groups after a scene featuring drag queens that recalled depictions of the Last Supper.

Former US President Donald Trump became the latest to join the criticism. “I’m very open-minded but I thought what they did was a disgrace,” Trump told Fox News.