Simone Biles is set to compete in all four events in the Team All Around competition, which kicks off later today at 11:15 a.m. here in Minnesota, and eyes around the world will not only be on Team USA and Biles, but also on her calf.
That’s because Biles “tweaked” her calf a bit during Sunday’s qualification round. She was seen favoring the leg at times when walking around the complex and briefly had the calf addressed and taped by trainers, but it didn’t stop her from competing in all of her events and finishing as the top overall qualifier. Biles is slated to compete in all four events in the competition – the vault, floor exercise, uneven bars and balance beam. She’ll go last in the Team USA group in all events except uneven bars, where she’ll go second.
“A little pain in her calf”
Biles “felt a little pain in her calf” during her warmups prior to qualification, said her personal coach Cecile Landi. However, she was still able to go out and post top scores for Team USA, who are the heavy favorites to bring home the gold after finishing second to Russia in 2020. We’ll have to keep a close eye on the calf throughout the finals today, because it could change everything should the injury worsen.
We assume that Biles will do everything in her power to push through any discomfort, because as we saw with Kerri Strug years ago, athletes don’t train for their life to get to this moment to let a little discomfort keep them from chasing their dreams. Assuming it doesn’t get any worse, we expect Biles and Team USA to shine at the All Around Final. However, she’s also generating an immense amount of force when she vaults, jumps and lands, and we certainly don’t expect her calf to feel any better by the time everything is said and done today.
She’s worked incredibly hard to overcome both physical and mental hurdles on her journey back to Olympic stardom, and we hope that a lower leg injury doesn’t get in the way of her dreams. We’re all watching you Simone, and we wish you the best! Go Team USA!
