Simone Biles out of Team Gymnastics Final at 2021 Olympics Due to Medical Issue
Jul 27, 2021
Simone Biles, of the United States, waits for her turn to perform during the artistic gymnastics women's final at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, July 27, 2021, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Four-time Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast Simone Biles was ruled out for the remainder of the women's team competition Tuesday at the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Al Butler of United Press International reported a Team USA coach told the NBC broadcast that Biles' removal from the competition was not injury-related, rather it was a "mental issue."
USA Gymnastics later released a statement regarding Biles' status:
Official statement: "Simone Biles has withdrawn from the team final competition due to a medical issue. She will be assessed daily to determine medical clearance for future competitions."
The Tokyo 2020 Twitter account tweeted a photo of Biles stumbling on one of her vault attempts, after which she exited the team event:
Reports are stating that Simone Biles is being attended to by a trainer and has left the field of play at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre #Tokyo2020#SimoneBiles has not warmed up for the uneven bars, USA's second apparatus and reserve Jordan Chiles has.
Biles, 24, is arguably the greatest female gymnast of all time, having won gold in the team, all-around, vault and floor exercise, and bronze in the balance beam at the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro.
She has also won an astonishing 19 gold medals at the world championships, including five in the all-around and four in the team event.
At the Tokyo Games, Biles qualified for each of the six finals in the all-around, team, vault, floor exercise, balance beam and uneven bars.
Despite qualifying for every event and putting herself in position to potentially win six medals, Biles made some uncharacteristic missteps during qualification.
Due in large part to Biles not achieving her normal averages, Team USA finished second to the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) in team qualifying by 1.067 points.
While the point totals in team qualification were inconsequential in terms of medal placement, it was still a shocking result given Team USA's dominance in the team event in recent years.
Team USA has won gold in the women's team event at each of the past two Olympics and each of the past five world championships, and they entered Tokyo as heavy favorites to make it three Olympics golds in a row.
With Biles out for the rest of the team competition, Team USA's chances of beating ROC for gold took a significant hit.
Biles pulling out of the team event also calls into question her availability for the all-around, vault, floor exercise, balance beam and uneven bars finals, although no announcement has been made regarding that.
Should Biles remain in the individual all-around field, she is favored to win gold again, and could become the second woman in Olympic history to win the all-around at back-to-back Olympics, joining Czechoslovakia's Vera Caslavska in 1964 and 1968.
Olympic Men's Gymnastics 2021: Team All-Around Medal Winners and Scores
Jul 26, 2021
Nikita Nagornyy, of the Russian Olympic Committee, performs on the pommel horse during the artistic gymnastic men's team final at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Monday, July 26, 2021, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
The Russian Olympic Committee claimed the men's gymnastics gold medal on Monday, narrowly defeating Japan in the team all-around competition.
The ROC's final score of 262.500 was just 0.103 ahead of Japan and not even a point ahead of bronze medalist China in a thrilling final. All Russian athletes at the Tokyo Games are competing for the ROC. A ruling last year by the Court of Arbitration for Sport banned Russia's team name as punishment for an extensive doping program and cover-ups.
Great Britain came in fourth place, while the United States was fifth.
Gold: ROC 262.500 Silver: Japan 262.397 Bronze: China 261.894 4th: Great Britain 255.760 5th: United States 254.594
Artur Dalaloyan and Nikita Nagornyy spearheaded the effort from the ROC. Nagornyy clinched the gold with an excellent floor routine of 14.666, giving him just enough points to put ROC ahead of Japan.
Daiki Hashimoto clinched the silver for Japan with his scintillating bar routine.
This was the closest race for the gold since the Perfect 10 system was eliminated.
Olympic Women's Gymnastics 2021 Results: Simone Biles, USA at No. 2 in Qualification
Jul 25, 2021
Simone Biles, of the United States, performs on the floor during the women's artistic gymnastic qualifications at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Sunday, July 25, 2021, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Women's gymnastics at the 2021 Summer Olympics looks like it'll be a heated competition that could be separated by fractions of points.
Qualifications took place Sunday in Tokyo, and the United States is not the unbeatable juggernaut it appeared to be heading into the event. Neither is Simone Biles—a sentence that's even more surprising to type out than the previous one.
Here is a look at how all of the qualifiers shook out.
Women's Gymnastics Qualifiers
Team All-Around
1. ROC (Russia) 171.629 2. United States 170.562 3. China 166.863 4. France 164.561 5. Belgium 163.895 6. Great Britain 163.396 7. Italy 163.330 8. Japan 162.662
The United States may have their work cut out if they hope for a third straight Olympic gold medal.
The U.S. easily qualified for the team portion of the women's all-around finals but found itself in an unfamiliar position: second place. Russia's overall score of 171.629 topped the United States' 170.562.
While those scores do not carry over to the finals, it's a sign that the rest of the world may be encroaching on the United States' standing as the world's top power in women's gymnastics.
The United States was uncharacteristically sloppy throughout the qualification process, with a number of stars miscuing to take down their scores. Even Simone Biles went off the mat in the floor exercise and on the vault before later misstepping on her dismount in the beam.
"I feel we did a pretty good job. Obviously there are little things we need to work on, so we'll go back and practice and work on that, just so we can do our best performance at team finals, because that's what matters," Biles told reporters.
Biles was still the leader in the individual all-around despite her miscues and remains an overwhelming favorite to earn gold.
Teammate Sunisa Lee is right on Biles' heels in the all-around, with the 18-year-old positioning herself well for her first Olympic medal. Lee's excellent 15.200 score in the uneven bars trailed only Belgium's Nina Derwael, the 2018 and 2019 World Champion in the event.
"This was not the finals. This was getting into the finals. So this might be a great awakening for us and we'll take advantage of it," United States high-performance director Tom Forster told reporters.
Brazilian Rebeca Andrade continued her scintillating run from the Pan American Championships to sit second in the all-around. Andrade looks primed to compete with Biles for the overall championship, along with giving her a run for her money in the vault and floor routine. The 22-year-old dominated her subdivision in both of those events.
Russia will carry two medal hopefuls into the all-arounds with Angelina Melnikova and Vladislava Urazova.
DOJ: Larry Nassar Allegations Weren't Treated with 'Utmost Seriousness' by FBI
Jul 14, 2021
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - NOVEMBER 06: The offices of USA Gymnastics and the US Olympic Committee are seen on November 6, 2018 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The committee announced its intention to revoke USA Gymnastics' status as the national governing body in continuing fallout from the Dr. Larry Nassar scandal. (Photo by Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images)
A Department of Justice investigation into the FBI’s handling of allegations of sexual abuse against former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar concluded the agency failed to respond with the "utmost seriousness and urgency that [the allegations] deserved and required, made numerous and fundamental errors when they did respond to them, and violated multiple FBI policies."
In a 119-page report released by the DOJ's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) on Wednesday afternoon, the DOJ noted FBI officials in Indianapolis did not take immediate steps to investigate Nassar, warn proper state officials of the allegations against Nassar and did not properly transfer information to the FBI’s Detroit Field Office and Lansing, Michigan Resident Agency—where Nassar treated patients as a Michigan State University employee. It also noted that although FBI officials in the Los Angeles office did begin an investigation, they did not "notify local law enforcement or the FBI Lansing Resident Agency of the information" they had learned.
The DOJ found that inaction by the FBI led to Nassar sexually abusing at least 70 girls and young women between July 2015, when the FBI Indianapolis Field Office learned of the allegations, and September 2016, when the Indianapolis Star first broke the story and MSU police began investigating.
“We concluded that the Indianapolis [Supervisory Special Agent], in an effort to minimize or excuse his errors, made false statements during two OIG-compelled interviews regarding his interview of one of Nassar’s victims,” the investigation concluded. “Similarly, we found that [Indianapolis Field Office Special Agent in Charge W. Jay] Abbott, in an effort to minimize or excuse his own and his office’s actions, falsely asserted in two separate OIG interviews that he communicated with both the Detroit SAC and the Los Angeles SAC about the Nassar allegations and sent [electronic communications] to both field offices in the fall of 2015. We found no evidence to support these claims.”
The Department of Justice declined to prosecute Abbott and the Indianapolis SSA in September 2020.
The FBI’s outrageous failures in this case led to more athletes enduring horrific, traumatic assaults. As Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I pledge that we will examine this serious and unacceptable injustice to help prevent future, similar tragedies. https://t.co/Rpdxn0tvhi
— Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin) July 14, 2021
In 2016, Nassar was sentenced to 40 to 175 years and 40 to 125 years in prison after pleading guilty to seven and three counts of criminal sexual conduct in two separate counties. More than 150 women and girls said in court that Nassar sexually abused them. Nassar was also sentenced to 60 years in prison on child pornography charges.
The OIG said it reviewed thousands of documents and interviewed more than 60 witnesses, several victims and parents of victims in conducting its investigation, but could not legally compel the Lansing Special Agent, who retired in 2018, to interview. USA Gymnastics CEO Steve Penny declined to participate in a second voluntary interview with the OIG, instead offering a proffer via his attorneys.
Penny first alerted the Indianapolis Field Office in July 2015 following a USAG internal investigation into allegations of sexual assault by Nassar from multiple athletes. Per the DOJ report, the following six weeks saw “limited follow-up” by federal agents during which the Indianapolis office did not formally document any of its activities related to the Nassar case including the original meeting with Penny in July.
No formal investigation was opened by the Indianapolis office during this timeframe.
"The only 2015 Indianapolis Field Office documentation located by the OIG consisted of five pages of handwritten notes taken by two of the FBI attendees at the July 2015 meeting with USA Gymnastics, three pages of notes taken by the two agents at the September 2 interview of the one athlete, a handful of email exchanges between Penny and the FBI Indianapolis Field Office, and approximately 45 emails and text messages among agents and prosecutors," the OIG concluded. "... The Indianapolis Field Office did not advise state or local authorities about the allegations and did not take any action to mitigate the risk to gymnasts that Nassar continued to treat. Instead, the Indianapolis agents and Assistant U.S. Attorney determined that, if the FBI had jurisdiction, venue would likely be most appropriate in the Western District of Michigan and the FBI’s Lansing Resident Agency, where MSU is located and where Nassar treated patients."
The Indianapolis SSA told an SSA at the Los Angeles Field Office that he created a formal FBI complaint in September 2015 to transfer the Nassar case from Indiana to Lansing. Despite multiple officials attempting to locate the document, the OIG found no evidence the Lansing Resident Agency was ever informed or received such documents in 2015.
The OIG additionally found Abbott violated the FBI’s conflicts of interest policies by lobbying Penny to help secure a job with the U.S. Olympic Committee while Abbott’s Indianapolis office looked into claims against Nassar.
Abbott met with Penny at a bar in the fall of 2015 to discuss both the USOC job and the Nassar investigation despite Abbott continuing to participate in FBI discussions related to the case. During the meeting, Penny “expressed concern” to the FBI Special Agent about the media portrayal of USA Gymnastics and asked Abbott if he was "in trouble." Abbott responded by proposing the FBI release a public statement that would “place USA Gymnastics in a positive light” while Penny put in a “good word” with the USOC on Abbott’s behalf.
Abbott twice told OIG investigators he did not apply for the USOC job in 2017 despite evidence confirming otherwise. Abbott retired from the FBI in 2018.
"We further found that, under federal ethics regulations, Abbott exercised extremely poor judgment by failing to consult with a designated agency ethics official regarding his ongoing involvement in Nassar investigation discussions at the same time he was seeking Penny's help and guidance about a U.S. Olympic Committee job opportunity," the report stated. "Abbott should have known—and in fact did know according to the evidence we found—that his actions would raise a question regarding his impartiality. We further concluded that Abbott made false statements to the OIG about the job discussion, his application for the position, and his handling of the Nassar allegations."
Among the four recommendations presented by the OIG in its conclusion, the DOJ urged the FBI to "develop a policy describing the circumstances, if any, under which telephonic interviews of alleged child abuse victims, including adults who had allegedly been victims of abuse as children, are appropriate" and reassess policies to "precisely describe" when FBI employees are required to promptly contact and coordinate with state and local officials after receiving allegations of crimes against children.
The OIG further recommended the FBI reassess policies to require employees to confirm receipt of transfers between field offices when dealing with complaints of serious or multi-victim sexual abuse.
In response to the OIG report, FBI Assistant Director Douglas Leff wrote the actions of Abbott are not representative of the FBI or its current and former employees. Leff noted FBI Director Christopher Wray has already begun implementing changes within the agency to strengthen its policies.
"We accept in full the OIG's recommendations and take especially seriously the findings that certain FBI employees did not respond to allegations of sexual abuse adequately and with the utmost urgency in 2015 and 2016," Leff wrote. "At Director Wray's direction, the FBI has taken immediate action to ensure that the failures of the employees outlined in the Report do not happen again. ... As we introduce the changes that Director Wray ordered, we do not lose sight of the victims that suffered abuse and mistreatment because of potential missed opportunities to disrupt the further criminal behavior of the now-convicted Nassar in 2015 and 2016. The actions and inactions of the FBI employees described in the Report are inexcusable and a discredit to this organization and the values we hold dear."
Aly Raisman's Dog Mylo Returned After Running Away During 4th of July Fireworks
Jul 10, 2021
Aly Raisman attends the Time 100 Gala celebrating the 100 most influential people in the world at Frederick P. Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center on Tuesday, April 24, 2018, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Three-time Olympic gold medalist Aly
Raisman announced Friday her dog, Mylo, was safely returned after
running away because of fireworks during the Independence Day weekend
celebrations.
Raisman thanked the "heroes" who
found and returned her 11-month-old canine.
HEROES!!!! MYLO IS SAFE. I HAVE HIM 😊😊😊😊 THANK YOU Carla, Gayle & her sweet dog.
"To my followers in the
seaport/Boston area...my dog Mylo was terrified of fireworks and ran
off. He has a tag on and a leash," she wrote in her initial Instagram post
July 3. "Please let me know if you see him. Thank you."
A week-long search for the dog ensued,
with Raisman providing consistent updates on social media and offering
a reward for his safe return.
No further details about where he was
ultimately located were immediately released. TMZ Sports noted Mylo, who's a rescue dog, will celebrate his first birthday next week.
Raisman was part of the United States'
dominant Olympic gymnastics squads at the 2012 London Games and the
2016 Rio Games. The U.S. won the team competition both years, and the
27-year-old Massachusetts native also took home individual gold in
the floor exercise in London.
She retired from competition in 2020
after six Olympic medals and four World Championship medals,
including a pair of golds in 2011 and 2015 as part of the U.S. team.
Simone Biles, Sunisa Lee Headline 2021 U.S. Women's Olympic Gymnastics Team
Jun 28, 2021
Simone Biles lands after competing on the vault during the women's U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Trials Sunday, June 27, 2021, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
The U.S. women's Olympic gymnastics team is set, and a familiar face highlights the group.
Superstar Simone Biles will lead the Americans in Tokyo after topping the standings at the United States trials:
Jordan Chiles will be the first U.S. woman in the last 30 years to make an Olympic team outright with neither prior world championships experience nor a top-three finish in a U.S. junior all-around. (Tasha Schwikert competed in 2000, but didn't make it outright.)
Kayla DiCello, Kara Eaker, Emma Malabuyo and Leanne Wong will also be heading to Tokyo as replacements.
Biles will be looking to solidify her place as the most dominant gymnast in history after winning four golds and a bronze at the 2016 Games. That, along with her astonishing 19 golds, three silvers and three bronze medals at the World Championships, is already a resume for the ages.
🗣 THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME@Simone_Biles is incredible.
She'll be leading a group looking to defend the United States' team gold from the 2016 Games. Biles is the only returning gymnast from that triumph (Skinner was an alternate).
"I'm old. I feel like I have a lot of wisdom," the 24-year-old Biles joked while talking about being the leader of the team on the NBCSN broadcast. "I can guide them through the meets. I've been here before, so I just want to keep everybody cool, calm and collected."
Biles is the headliner. She's arguably already the GOAT. But she'll be accompanied in Tokyo by a very talented group that will be expected to repeat as gold medalists in the team competition.
Simone Biles' Brother Tevin Acquitted of All Charges in 2018 Triple-Homicide Trial
Jun 15, 2021
Spectators' seats lie poorly during a gymnastics event in Indira Gandhi Sports Complex in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2010. The empty stadiums that marred the first day of competition at the crisis-hit Commonwealth Games may be filled by children and the underprivileged if attendance doesn't improve. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)
The brother of U.S. gymnast and four-time Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles, Tevin Biles-Thomas, was acquitted on all charges stemming from a 2018 triple homicide, per Doha Madini of NBC News.
Biles-Thomas was facing 15 charges, including murder, voluntary manslaughter and felonious assault, after being accused of killing 19-year-old Delvante Johnson, 21-year-old Toshaun Banks and 23-year-old Devaughn Gibson at a 2018 New Year's Eve party.
Gibson was Biles-Thomas' cousin.
“I mean it can't be forgotten that Tevin not only has suffered through two-and-a-half years of defending himself, but he also lost a loved one, too,” Joseph Patituce, one of Biles-Thomas' defense attorneys, said after the charges were dismissed.
Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge Joan Synenberg ruled that prosecutors had not presented enough evidence to convict after Biles-Thomas' attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the case due to insufficient evidence.
That followed a May mistrial "after jurors said they were inadvertently given legal briefs between prosecutors and Biles-Thomas’ legal team," per Madani.
Following Tuesday's ruling, Johnson’s mother rushed toward Biles-Thomas, yelling, "You have to be f--king kidding me."
"I’m going to kill you," she added.
The Cuyahoga County Court thanked the sheriff's department for intervening in the situation in a statement.
"We don’t fault the victim’s family. This was a horrible event," Patituce said. "We don't fault the victim’s family for acting out."
Following her brother's arrest, Biles released a statement in September 2019 offering condolences to the victims' families and said she was "having a hard time processing" the news.
Simone Biles Says She Wouldn't Feel Comfortable Letting Her Daughter Do Gymnastics
Jun 14, 2021
Simone Biles stands on the podium after earning first place in the all around following the U.S. Gymnastics Championships, Sunday, June 6, 2021, in Fort Worth, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
Legendary gymnast Simone Biles doesn't want any future daughter of hers to be involved with USA Gymnastics unless something changes.
In an interview with Sharyn Alfonsi on Sunday's edition of 60 Minutes, Biles pushed for further accountability in the wake of the sexual abuse scandal that rocked the gymnastics world.
"No. Because I don't feel comfortable enough, because they haven't taken accountability for their actions and what they've done," Biles said when asked if she would want her daughter to be part of the USA Gymnastics system. "And they haven't ensured us that it's never going to happen again."
Larry Nassar, the longtime USA Gymnastics doctor, was sentenced to up to 175 years in prison in 2018 after pleading guilty to multiple counts of sexual assault. In addition to that conviction, he was sentenced to 40 to 125 years for sexual assault in another Michigan county. He is also serving a 60-year federal sentence on child pornography charges.
In 2018, she revealed on social media that she was abused by Nassar. In her segment, which aired Sunday, she said she wants an independent investigation into the matter.
"We bring them medals," she told Alfonsi. "We do our part. You can't do your part in return? It's just, like, it's sickening."
The 24-year-old is preparing for her second Olympic appearance this upcoming summer after winning four gold medals and a bronze medal in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. She is fresh off of her seventh all-around title at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships, tied for most all-time.
She is the most decorated American gymnast in history, with 30 medals between the Olympics and the World Championship. She has the opportunity to inch closer the world title in that category this summer, as she needs just four more medals to overtake Vitaly Scherbo of Belarus (h/t The Athletic).
Olympic trials are June 24-27 in St. Louis.
Simone Biles Wins Record 7th All-Around Title at U.S. Gymnastics Championships
Jun 7, 2021
Simone Biles stands on the podium after earning first place in the all around following the U.S. Gymnastics Championships, Sunday, June 6, 2021, in Fort Worth, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
For the seventh time, Simone Biles is the all-around winner in the U.S. Gymnastics Championships after leading the field at the 2021 installment in Fort Worth, Texas.
The achievement moves Biles ahead of Clara Schroth Lombady for the most titles by a female American.
"I feel like every single championship stands out for a different reason, but this one stands out specifically because it's the road to Tokyo," she said of the win. "We came out here, and we did what we were supposed to."
The 24-year-old paced the field after the first session with a total score of 59.550. The gold was hers to lose heading into her final event Sunday, the uneven bars. While she had to settle for a bronze in the bars, her score of 14.700 in the second session was more than enough to leave her atop the standings.
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) June 7, 2021
Greatness has become the norm for Biles, who is so exceptional she's almost breaking the scoring system. In May, she was the first woman ever to land the Yurchenko double pike in an official event.
The first woman in history to land a Yurchenko double pike in competition.
Biles is firing on all cylinders as she looks to defend her all-around gold medal in the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Simone Biles Tweets She 'Can't Believe' She Landed Historic Yurchenko Double Pike
May 25, 2021
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - MAY 22: Simone Biles lands the Yurchenko double pike while competing on the vault during the 2021 GK U.S. Classic gymnastics competition at the Indiana Convention Center on May 22, 2021 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Biles became the first woman in history to land the Yurchenko double pike in competition. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)
If you remain stunned by what Simone Biles can pull off, you're not alone. Biles herself remains at a loss.
Competing in the GK U.S. Classic, the four-time Olympic gold medalist became the first woman to successfully land the Yurchenko double pike in competition on the vault.
The first woman in history to land a Yurchenko double pike in competition.
The New York Times' Juliet Macur wrote how Biles' Yurchenko double pike put her in a class of her own to such an extent that some around the sport worry "she might run away with any competition she enters simply by doing a handful of moves that her rivals cannot, or dare not, attempt."
Macur also explained that the double pike wasn't valued commensurately with its difficulty and rarity in part to counteract Biles' dominance.
When you're so good that officials subtly work to curb your supremacy, you're allowed to take a moment to be impressed with yourself.
