The Kansas City Royals defeated the New York Mets 7-2 in New York on Sunday, thereby clinching the 2015 World Series in a veritable rout, four games to one. This, you might think, is the sporting event most worthy of comment. And you’d be right if, instead of the Royals, the Cubs were crowned World Series champions, thereby making that famous scene from Back to the Future II a reality.
But, with all due respect to the “fall classic,” the first head-to-head meeting in major gymnastic competition between a reigning World all-around champion (Simone Biles) and a reigning Olympic all-around champion (Gabby Douglas), which culminated in Glasgow, Scotland, on Sunday, is far more worthy of comment.
Friends can attest that I predicted Gabby Douglas of the USA would win the women’s all-around competition. I reasoned that, even though there are specialists at these Games who might be slightly better on an individual apparatus, no gymnast is as talented as she is on all of them combined.
Gabby proved this on Tuesday when she led the USA to gold in the women’s team by being the only member whose results were good enough to count on all four apparatuses. And she punctuated this fact today by winning the highly coveted women’s all-around in convincing fashion…
I feel constrained to repeat that I hope the media and corporate advertisers do for Gabby what they did for Mary Lou Retton. General Mills can begin by featuring her adorable face on the cover of a Wheaties cereal box.
(“London Olympics: Day 6,” The iPINIONS Journal, August 2, 2012)
As it happens, Gabby followed the precedent Michael Phelps set after his olympian feat of winning eight gold medals at the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics. She endorsed Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, instead of General Mills’ Wheaties, as “The breakfast of champions.”
Gabby was fourth American to win the coveted women’s all-around since Mary Lou Retton became the first in 1984. But she was so dominant at the London 2012 Summer Olympics, I would’ve bet good money that Gabby would surpass all of her American predecessors by becoming the first gymnast to repeat as all-around champion since Vera Caslavska of Czechoslovakia won in 1964 and repeated in 1968.
Thank God I didn’t. Because, even before Gabby could fully recover from her historic feat, Simone embarked on a course that has already seen her become the most decorated gymnast of all time – and she has yet to compete in the Olympics.
Here is how Agence France-Presse hailed her remarkable accomplishments yesterday, after she dominated competition at the Glasgow 2015 World Gymnastics Championships last week.
It was a perfect ten finish for Simone Biles … on Sunday as the young American became the most decorated woman gymnast of all time on the final day of competition.
The 18-year-old cooly added gold on the balance beam and the floor to the record third all-around and team titles she had already claimed at the Hydro Arena in Glasgow.
Biles’ four world titles brought her tally to ten as the tiny Texan becomes the most-titled female gymnast in history.
Oh, Gabby? The reigning Olympic champion? The 19-year-old was a distant second.
And even though she showed great sportsmanship, one can just imagine her looking on in awe and dismay as Simone quashed any hope she had of repeating as Olympic champion. Indeed, I’d bet good money that the result in Rio next year will be the same as it was in Glasgow last week.
Sorry, Gabby; but I for one can’t wait.
Hail, Simone!
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