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sports Dialuna 2 augustus 2021

Olympic champion Sunisa Lee adds bronze on uneven bars

(AP) — Sunisa Lee came to Japan to pics. She just wasn’t expecting it. She
win a gold medal. And she did. Just figured she would be vying for silver be-
not the one she really, really wanted. hind teammate Simone Biles. Then the
2016 Olympic champion pulled out of the
The 18-year-old from Minnesota is a rev- all-around final to focus on her mental
elation on uneven bars, where her rou- health, opening a door that Lee stepped
tines are an intricate series of connections through with a performance both graceful
and releases completed with so much ease and gritty.
it looks like she’s making it all up on the
fly. The two-plus days since her victory have
been a whirlwind of interviews and social
Only she isn’t. Her mastery is the result of media mentions. It’s a lot. At the moment,
years of hard work. She’s one of the best in it’s probably too much. Lee thinks she
the world on it, and she showed it during might delete Twitter until the competition
the all-around final, where her electric set is over.
helped her edge Rebeca Andrade of Bra-
zil and become the fifth straight American Derwael gave Belgium its first-ever gold
woman to claim the Olympic title. medal in women’s gymnastics, the last bit
of history on a night full of it.
Three days and a crush of fame later,
she wasn’t quite right. Admitting she’d Artem Dolgopyat of Israel gave his coun-
become distracted by the attention sur- try only its second-ever gold in the Sum-
rounding her triumph, connections that mer Games with a victory on floor exer-
typically come so easily were labored dur- cise. Andrade — runner-up to Lee in the
ing Sunday’s event finals, if they came at all-around — provided the first gymnas-
all. The result was a bronze-medal finish tics gold for Brazil. Lee Chih-Kai’s silver
that left her disappointed. on pommel horse was the first for Taiwan
after finishing behind two-time Olympic
Yes, the all-around title is great. She’ll champion Max Whitlock of Britain.
carry it with her for the rest of her life.
But the bars are her jam. Only her long- Andrade’s spectacular display on vault is
anticipated showdown with Belgium star all the more jarring considering she’s al-
Nina Derwael never materialized. Lead- ready endured three reconstructive knee
ing off while wearing a dazzling crystal- surgeries and didn’t even qualify for the
laden blue leotard in the eight-woman fi- Games until early June. She gets so much
nal, Lee knew in the middle of her routine air time from her block off the vaulting ta-
it wasn’t going to be good enough to top ble it seems as if she’s being dropped from
the podium long before her 14.500 flashed the catwalk hanging above the podium at
across the scoreboard. the Ariake Gymnastics Centre.

“Bars is something I really cherish,” Lee “I don’t really know what to say, I couldn’t
said while wearing shoes borrowed from imagine myself up there on the podium,”
American teammate Jade Carey because the 22-year-old Andrade said. “I think I
she forgot the ones that come with the matured a lot. I got better from the inju-
U.S. uniform back at the hotel. “So when ries.”
I mess it up, it really sucks.”
Andrade’s 15.083 average put her just
Even if Lee’s definition of “mess it up” is ahead of MyKayla Skinner. The 24-year-
different than most others. The bronze old American didn’t know if she would
gave her a full rainbow of Olympic bling compete in the finals until Saturday af-
to go with the all-around gold and the sil- ternoon after Biles opted out. She drilled
ver she claimed in the team competition. both her Cheng and her Amanar then said
goodbye to the sport from the medal stand.
It’s impressive by any stretch. It’s also not Already married, Skinner is retiring.
quite what she came here for.
What a way to go out. Two years ago she
“It’s really cool,” Lee said. “I just wish the re-entered the elite world after spend-
bronze medal was a (balance) beam medal, ing three years competing collegiately at
not bars.” Utah. She dealt with both COVID-19
and pneumonia during the pandemic and
Lee will get a chance to add to her stash in thought she was heading home early last
the beam final on Tuesday. A medal there week after failing to automatically qualify
would be a bit of a surprise. One on bars into any finals. Then Biles told her to stick
was almost a given. Though she earned around because she wasn’t sure she was
one, she didn’t put on a show while do- going to compete.
ing it. She thinks her inability to put down
her phone the last few days had a little to Skinner heard Biles’ voice above the din
do with it. during the finals, urging Skinner to a po-
dium finish only she may have seen when
Her popularity has exploded in the 10 she made her comeback official at the
days since the Games began. She’s added 2019 U.S. Championships.
950,000 followers on Instagram, a stun-
ning 390% increase, including 365,000 “I think it’s so cool to show that age is just
since last Thursday. a number and that anything is possible if
you work hard and dream for it,” Skinner
It typically comes with the territory when said. “So I’m just so honored that I never
you find yourself atop the podium after gave up and have kept pushing for my
one of the marquee events at the Olym- dreams to get here.”