A sporting superteam assembled itself over the weekend and it is coming for the hardware. All of it. In order to put this group together, no one had to take their talents to South Beach, no one had to be recruited with a post-defeat, parking lot phone conversation. The stars on this one just aligned. You might not have heard of the team members, bar one, but that doesn’t matter right now. By the time the Tokyo Olympics finally arrive and its gymnastics competition springs into leaping, somersaulting, flipping and gravity-defying action, prepare for some new, fresh household names to hit your screens. The United States women’s team is fronted of course by Simone Biles, returning for a second Olympics after cementing herself as the most outstanding gymnast and perhaps the greatest Olympic athlete of all time. Before long, the names Sunisa Lee, Jordan Chiles and Grace McCallum will be part of the common sports chatter-verse as well, as the U.S. squad heads to the rescheduled, reimagined and frankly unique Olympics fully intending to play a familiar tune. The Fierce Five led by Gabby Douglas was imperious in London in 2012, the Final Five unstoppable behind Biles and Aly Raisman in Rio five years ago. This current squad smiled sweetly and exuded delight when the selection committee made its final decisions, but don’t be fooled, they’re coming to grind the opposition into the dust and crush the dreams of anyone who stands in their way. Jade Carey and MyKayla Skinner also join the squad for individual events only. Gymnastics is part of a strange Olympic trifecta of sports, along with track and swimming, where, for the tiniest of windows every four years, their stars become as big and relevant as any athlete from America’s most popular team sports. When the Olympic Games are on, Biles will be just as newsworthy as Tom Brady in the middle of football season. In years past, Michael Phelps was as big as Kobe Bryant and, during Usain Bolt’s glorious Olympic appearances, simply no one was bigger box office. And then, beyond the brief flurry and some lingering glow, the Olympic heroes largely disappear from the center of the mainstream radar again, until the next Games cycle rolls around. During that time, there is all that grueling training, all that soul searching, and all the physical discomfort of dealing with the inevitable toll of a sport that by its nature includes punishing jolts of impact. All of which makes the hardest part for an American gymnast actually qualifying for the Olympics. National team coordinator Tom Forster admitted as much in explaining the decision to pick McCollum ahead of Skinner based off her trials showing, even though Skinner would potentially have offered greater scoring potential in Tokyo. “We’re so, so fortunate that our athletes are so strong that I don’t think it’s going to come down to tenths of a point in Tokyo,” Forster said. It is a loaded team, but even within it, Biles is a cut above. It was a major shock when Lee scored ahead of her during the second segment of the two-day trials, even though Biles comfortably won overall. It looks like Biles can’t be beaten, her rivals sense she can’t be beaten and while Biles herself is too nice to say as much, she doesn’t truly feel there is anyone out there who can match up. “I’m trying to beat myself,” Biles told the TODAY show recently. When asked if she is “beatable” her hesitation in trying to find the right, diplomatic words, said it all. “I don’t know,” she smiled. “You just never know.” When it comes to sports, Biles is as close to a sure thing as you will find. With the best of the rest also on the U.S. squad, the Americans appear to be a lock to bring home gold. This isn’t 1996, when the Magnificent Seven needed Kerri Strug’s injury-defying heroics in Atlanta to get over the line. This is a dominant group that’s so far ahead of the pack that a miracle isn’t needed to pull an upset, it’s needed to even make things close. Gymnastics’ time in the sun will again be fleeting. That’s just the way of things. The U.S. women will compete for six days at the Tokyo Olympics. On each one of them, all eyes will be upon a special group and the living legend still in her prime at the head of it. American sports’ latest superteam is in place. Gold, a lot of it, awaits. Here’s what others have said … Henry Bushnell, Yahoo Sports: “The four-woman team will be favored, overwhelmingly, to win team gold next month. All six will then vie for individual medals, and could rival the 2016 Olympic team’s haul – because as a collective, they’re almost as balanced as an Olympic gymnastics team can be.” Emily Leiker, USA Today (on Simone Biles): “The four-time Olympic gold medalist has become a household name akin to Tom Brady – they’re both considered the ‘GOAT’ in their respective sports – since competing in Rio in 2016.” Sunisa Lee, US Olympic Women’s Gymnast: “I just feel really relieved. I’m still very emotional. It’s so surreal to say that I’m an Olympian now.” |
