TOKYO: Caeleb Dressel got his first individual gold medal, the Chinese women put together a record-setting relay and American Sunisa Lee won the women’s all-around gymnastics gold.
After the biggest action of the day session on the sixth day of the Tokyo Olympics came at the pool, Lee shined at night in gymnastics with teammate Simone Biles watching from the stands.
Lee, the youngest member of the team, became the fifth straight American woman to claim the Olympic title in the women’s all-around. She edged Rebeca Andrade of Brazil in an entertaining and hotly contested final.
Lee’s total of 57.433 points was just enough to top Andrade. The Brazilian earned the first gymnastics all-around medal by a Latin American athlete but missed out on gold when she stepped out of bounds twice during her floor routine.
Russian gymnast Angelina Melnikova earned bronze two days after leading ROC to gold in the team final. “It’s crazy,” the 18-year-old Lee told reporters after her win. “It doesn’t feel like real life at all.” Biles, who stunned the Tokyo Games two nights ago by withdrawing from the all-around team event after a single vault, watched from the front row. It is still not clear whether she will compete in any of the individual events in the coming days. Earlier on Thursday, Biles tweeted her appreciation for all the support that had flooded in after her candid statements about the pressure she was feeling shone a light on athletes’ mental health.
“…the outpouring love & support I’ve received has made me realize I’m more than my accomplishments and gymnastics which I never truly believed before,” she said in a tweet.
As the Americans celebrated at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre, their world champion pole vaulter Sam Kendricks was isolating in a hotel room after he tested positive for Covid-19 and was ruled out of the Games. —agencies
