Is NBC To Blame For Simone Biles’s Olympic Withdrawal?
Richard Zoglin: “Is NBC to blame for Simone Biles’s Olympic withdrawal? I am overstating the case, of course. But to understand Biles’s decision to step back from much of the gymnastics competition at the Tokyo Games, it’s hard to ignore the elephant in the room: the orgy of hype, hero worship and home-team hyperventilating that has come to define NBC’s coverage of the Olympics. Somehow, sooner or later, something like this had to happen.”
The 24-year-old Biles will compete in Tuesday’s balance beam final. She won bronze on beam in Rio de Janeiro five years ago and qualified for the eight-woman final at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre on the first weekend of the Games but removed herself from the team final on July 27 after a shaky performance on vault during the first rotation.
USA Gymnastics said in a statement on Wednesday that the 24-year-old is opting to not compete. The decision comes a day after Biles removed herself from the team final following one rotation because she felt she wasn’t mentally ready.
Reigning Olympic gymnastics champion Simone Biles is out of today’s events in Tokyo after appearing to sustain an injury while participating in the Team Final, the International Gymnastics Federation has confirmed. The U.S. Gymnastics team released a statement shortly after she exited saying she had suffered a “medical issue” and that she would be assessed to determine whether she can participate further in the Games.
NEW YORK (AP) — NBC announcer Al Trautwig said Monday he regrets tweeting that the adoptive mother and father of American gymnastics star Simone Biles were not her parents, a […]
