GYMNASTICS SURRENDER COBRA!
It’s truly impossible to understand how it must feel to compete in Olympic gymnastics against Simone Biles. Never has a swallower of dreams and devourer of worlds come in such a small package — and her brilliance is inevitable.
Heck, even her opponents know that betting against Biles is a fool’s errand, which is exactly what happened to Great Britain on Tuesday when they were in second, celebrated making the podium too early, then realized Team USA still had a score to come in.
Here’s how this all went down:
Scores all trickle in over time in team gymnastics. With teams moving between apparatuses, all of which finish at different times, scores are only updated when a new score is added to the total. It makes a live leaderboard fairly difficult to parse unless you’re in between rotations — which is where this went bad for Great Britain.
They had just finished their final routine on their final rotation on beam. It put them into second place, just behind Italy. Even if Brazil turned in a big performance they were going to medal — or so they thought. The coaches were the first to stare up at the board, realize Biles hadn’t competed on floor yet, and know they were absolutely screwed.
USA had been dominating everyone in the women’s teams, rocketing back into first place every time a score came through. Great Britain were so lost in the moment that they didn’t notice that the United States wasn’t already in first. Then while Biles was announced she was about to begin her routine, the surrender cobras began.
You probably know what happened next. Biles slayed on floor, Brazil bumped off Great Britain for bronze, leaving the Brits in 4th place. It was heartbreaking, hilarious, and spectacular all at the same time.
