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sports Diamars 3 augustus 2021

American star Simone Biles to return for balance beam finals

(AP) — Simone Biles is She watched from the side- opting out of multiple finals.
back. lines as her three American She has also been a fixture in
teammates completed the the stands supporting Lee,
The 2016 Olympic gymnas- meet without her; the U.S. MyKayla Skinner and Jade
tics champion will return to took silver behind the team Carey while they competed
competition in the balance known as the Russian Olym- in the event finals.
beam final on Tuesday, a little pic Committee.
over a week after stepping She went into extensive de-
away from the meet to focus The six-time Olympic med- tail about “the twisties” last
on her mental health. alist later said she was dealing week, explaining she lost the
with issues surrounding air confidence of knowing what
“We are so excited to confirm awareness, referred to as “the her body was going to do in
that you will see two U.S. twisties” in her sport. midair. It’s not the first time
athletes in the balance beam Biles dealt with the problem,
final tomorrow — Suni Lee Biles qualified for all five in- though she did say the issues
AND Simone Biles!! Can’t dividual event finals but took followed her to both uneven
wait to watch you both!” herself out of four of them: bars and beam. ally proud and happy to see the medal she earned in Bra-
USA Gymnastics said in a the all-around, vault, floor her going after beam.” zil that she’s proudest of, and
statement. exercise and uneven bars. Lee Previous bouts with the she’s taken to task those who
earned the gold in the all- phenomenon were limited Finishing her second Olym- called it a disappointment,
The 24-year-old Biles won around, becoming the fifth to floor exercise and vault, pics — and perhaps her ca- using it as proof to the double
bronze on beam in Rio de Ja- straight American to claim where more twisting ele- reer — on balance beam is standard she believes follows
neiro five years ago and qual- the sport’s marquee title. ments are required. poetic justice of sorts for her whenever she competes.
ified for the eight-woman fi- Biles. She got bronze in Rio
nal at the Ariake Gymnastics Considered to be the great- “I’m really proud of her for despite grabbing the 4-inch Athletes from all over — both
Centre on the first weekend est gymnast of all time and coming back,” said American piece of wood that’s 4 feet off at the Olympics and else-
of the Games. the unquestioned face of the Jade Carey, who won gold on the ground when she almost where — have rallied around
U.S. Olympic movement floor exercise Monday while slipped mid-routine. It was her over the past week, prais-
She removed herself from when she arrived in Japan, Biles watched surrounded by her fifth medal at the Games. ing her courage for speaking
the team final on July 27 after Biles continued to train and the rest of the U.S. women’s The other four were gold. up about the importance of
a shaky performance on vault be evaluated daily by the team. “She’s been through a mental health.
during the first rotation. USA Gymnastics staff after lot this Olympics so I’m re- Biles has called the bronze

Canada upsets US with 1-0 win in women's soccer

(AP) — Carli Lloyd, that the U.S. failed to reach the national team. medal. clair scored three goals, but
clutch in so many criti- the gold medal game. the United States won it 4-3
cal moments for the U.S. The U.S. lost starting goal- Quinn won bronze in 2016 on Alex Morgan’s header in
women’s soccer team, The Americans were bounced keeper Alyssa Naeher when before coming out as trans- the 123rd minute.
failed to connect against from the 2016 Rio Games by she came down awkwardly gender.
Canada on Monday night Sweden in the quarterfinals. after going up for the ball The controversy stemmed
and the Americans won’t around the 20th minute. It is the second straight from questionable calls, in-
play for a fifth Olympic As Canada celebrated wildly Trainers attended to her for Olympics that the Ameri- cluding a rare six-second vio-
gold medal. at Ibaraki Kashima Stadium, some five minutes as backup cans, the two-time defending lation against Canadian goal-
Lloyd knelt to the turf with Adrianna Franch warmed up World Cup champions, will keeper Erin McLeod late in
Lloyd’s look in the 86th min- her head in her hands. on the sideline. not play for the gold medal. regulation. That touched off
ute with the United States The team was uncharacteris- the sequence that resulted in
trailing by a goal hit the cross- “That wasn’t good enough,” Naeher tried to stay in the tically uneven in Japan, start- the tying goal.
bar as Canada won 1-0 and said Lloyd, the oldest player game, but was replaced by ing with a 3-0 loss to Sweden
dropped the Americans into on the U.S. team at 39 and Franch in the 30th minute. that snapped a 44-game un- Lloyd actually had two at-
the bronze medal match. It is playing in what was likely her beaten streak. tempts against Canada. She
the second straight Olympics last major tournament with Canada pounced in the 74th fired off a shot in the 65th
minute on Jessie Fleming’s The Americans bounced minute that forced Canadian
penalty kick, which gave back to beat New Zealand goalkeeper Stephanie Labbe
Canada its first win against but then came a scoreless to leap to push it over the
the United States since 2001. draw with Australia in the crossbar. A short time later,
group stage. A 4-2 penalty Labbe stopped Julie Ertz’s
Fleming booted her PK past shootout against the Nether- header off a corner from
a diving Franch and took off lands on Friday advanced the Rapinoe as the United States
toward the sideline, sliding U.S. to the semifinals. increased the pressure.
on her knees before team-
mates swarmed around her. The loss of goalkeeper Nae- “Definitely had a bit of a mo-
her clearly hurt the U.S. She mentum shift there in the
The U.S. will play for the was key to the victory over second half, and came on
bronze on Thursday in the Dutch in the quarterfi- strong,” Labbe said. “I think
Kashima against Australia. nals, with a penalty save dur- for us it was about staying
ing regulation and two more tight defensively and that’s
Canada will play for the gold in the deciding shootout. Af- something we’ve done all
Friday at Tokyo’s Olympic ter the semifinal loss, she was tournament.”
Stadium against Sweden, on crutches.
which downed the Austra- Fridolina Rolfo scored in
lians 1-0 in Yokohama. The previous time the U.S. the 46th minute for Sweden
played neighbor Canada in in its victory over Australia.
Canada features Quinn, a the Olympics was 2012 in The Swedes also went to the
midfielder who will become a controversial semifinal final in the 2016 Olympics,
the first openly transgender match that went to overtime. but fell to Germany and took
athlete to win an Olympic Canadian star Christine Sin- home the silver.