A6 — BAKER CITY HERALD
TUESDAY, AUGUST 3, 2021
SPORTS
SUMMER OLYMPICS
Canada upsets U.S. women’s soccer
By Anne M. Peterson
Associated Press
KASHIMA, Japan —
Carli Lloyd, clutch in so
many critical moments for
the U.S. women’s soccer
team, failed to connect
against Canada on Monday
night, Aug. 2, and the Amer-
icans won’t play for a fi fth
Olympic gold medal.
Lloyd’s look in the 86th
minute with the United
States trailing by a goal hit
the crossbar as Canada won
1-0 and dropped the Ameri-
cans into the bronze medal
match. It is the second
straight Olympics that the
U.S. failed to reach the gold
medal game.
The Americans were
bounced from the 2016 Rio
Games by Sweden in the
quarterfi nals.
As Canada celebrated
wildly at Ibaraki Kashima
Stadium, Lloyd knelt to the
turf with her head in her
hands.
“That wasn’t good
enough,” said Lloyd, the
oldest player on the U.S.
team at 39 and playing in
what was likely her last
major tournament with the
national team.
transgender athlete to win
an Olympic medal.
Quinn won bronze in
2016 before coming out as
transgender.
It is the second straight
Olympics that the Ameri-
cans, the two-time defend-
ing World Cup champions,
will not play for the gold
medal. The team was un-
characteristically uneven
in Japan, starting with a
3-0 loss to Sweden that
Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times-TNS snapped a 44-game unbeat-
en streak.
Team United States forward Carli Lloyd (10) leaves her
The Americans bounced
teammates to pace the fi eld after losing a semifi nal
back to beat New Zealand
match against Canada at Ibaraki Kashima Stadium.
but then came a scoreless
draw with Australia in the
States since 2001.
The U.S. lost starting
group stage. A 4-2 penalty
Fleming booted her PK
goalkeeper Alyssa Nae-
shootout against the Neth-
past a diving Franch and
her when she came down
erlands on Friday advanced
took off toward the side-
awkwardly after going up
the U.S. to the semifi nals.
for the ball around the 20th line, sliding on her knees
The loss of goalkeeper
minute. Trainers attended before teammates swarmed
Naeher clearly hurt the
to her for some fi ve minutes around her.
U.S. She was key to the
The U.S. will play for
as backup Adrianna Franch
victory over the Dutch in
warmed up on the sideline. the bronze on Thursday
the quarterfi nals, with a
in Kashima against either
Naeher tried to stay in
penalty save during regula-
the game, but was replaced Sweden or Australia.
tion and two more in the
Canada will play for
by Franch in the 30th
deciding shootout. After the
the gold Friday at Tokyo’s
minute.
semifi nal loss, she was on
Olympic Stadium against
Canada pounced in
crutches.
the winner of Sweden-
the 74th minute on Jessie
The previous time
Australia. Canada features
Fleming’s penalty kick,
the U.S. played neighbor
which gave Canada its fi rst Quinn, a midfi elder who
will become the fi rst openly Canada in the Olympics
win against the United
was 2012 in a controversial
semifi nal match that went
to overtime. Canadian star
Christine Sinclair scored
three goals, but the United
States won it 4-3 on Alex
Morgan’s header in the
123rd minute.
The controversy
stemmed from question-
able calls, including a rare
six-second violation against
Canadian goalkeeper Erin
McLeod late in regula-
tion. That touched off the
sequence that resulted in
the tying goal.
“For those of us that
were part of the 2012
team, it’s nice to get a little
revenge in an Olympic
semifi nal,” Sinclair said.
After her celebrating
teammates had started to
leave the fi eld, Sinclair laid
down on the fi eld in relief.
“I was just sitting there
thinking how proud I am
of this team,” she said. “It’s
a very unique group. It’s
a special group and I’m so
proud to be a part of it.”
The Canadians have
won the bronze medal in
the past two Olympics.
“I think this is my fi rst
loss ever to Canada,” Me-
gan Rapinoe said. “It sucks
not to be able to compete
for a gold medal, which
is what we wanted. Not a
great performance, either.
That’s the most frustrating
thing.”
U.S. coach Vlatko An-
donovski has been creative
with his lineups through-
out the tournament. On
Monday, Lynn Williams,
originally an alternate,
started her second straight
game. Lloyd, Rapinoe and
Samantha Mewis were on
the bench to start.
Lloyd actually had two
attempts against Canada.
She fi red off a shot in the
65th minute that forced Ca-
nadian goalkeeper Stepha-
nie Labbe to leap to push it
over the crossbar. A short
time later, Labbe stopped
Julie Ertz’s header off a
corner from Rapinoe as the
United States increased the
pressure.
“Defi nitely had a bit of
a momentum shift there in
the second half, and came
on strong,” Labbe said. “I
think for us it was about
staying tight defensively
and that’s something we’ve
done all tournament.”
Biles deserves our support, not criticism
COREY
KIRK
Last week, while the
U.S. team was preparing to
defend its gold medal in the
team all-around women’s
gymnastics competition at
the Olympic Games in To-
kyo, the team’s star, Simone
Biles, made a decision no
one expected.
She decided to step out
of competition to focus on
her mental health.
Withdrawing from
competition after the fi rst
event, Biles returned to the
sidelines to cheer and sup-
port her teammates while
they worked their way to a
silver medal.
But most of the world
was talking about Biles’
decision rather than her
teammates’ valiant efforts.
Biles, now 24, broke
out fi ve years ago at the
Olympic Games in Rio de
Janeiro, where she won four
gold medals and a bronze.
Fans anointed Biles the
GOAT (Greatest Of All
Time), and it was expected
that her performance in Rio
would be the fi rst of many
Olympic runs for the Texas
resident.
So when Biles decided
to withdraw in Tokyo, the
reaction from fans was
mixed. The minority felt
that if she was struggling
with mental issues, she
shouldn’t have accepted a
spot on the team, depriv-
ing an alternate gymnast a
chance to fully prepare.
Not only is that way of
thinking very unempathet-
ic, but it discredits Biles’
immense prior accomplish-
ments.
The biggest thing
that critics aren’t able
to recognize is how well
trained gymnasts need
to be not only physically
but mentally. The slight-
est problem could lead to
serious injury. Known as
the “twisties,” Biles defi ned
what it feels like in a recent
Instagram post.
“Literally can not tell
up from down,” she wrote.
“It’s the craziest feeling
ever. Not having an inch of
control over your body.”
Dealing with the im-
mense pressure of trying
to meet the same level of
success from fi ve years
ago, having an unfortunate
part in one of the biggest
sexual assault cases in
professional sports history
with US Gymnastics, and
being in the most unique
Olympics scenario due to
the COVID-19 pandemic,
are all issues that could
have played a part in Biles’
condition.
So pulling herself out of
competition not only was
to keep her safe, but to give
her teammates their best
chance at winning a medal,
and to ultimately take care
of herself in the long run.
Though some naysayers
will cite Kerri Strug, the
American gymnast who
back in 1996 continued to
compete after injuring her
ankle, our expectations of
Olympians have become
much more respectful, and
reasonable. Biles was able
to prevent so much chaos
from ever happening by
stepping away, to poten-
tially save the remaining
part of her career where
someone like Strug wasn’t
able to after suffering her
injury.
Support for Biles has
drowned out the critics,
with fans, celebrities, fel-
low athletes and former
Olympians saying they un-
derstand why Biles decided
to withdraw.
“I was 14 y/o w/ a tibial
stress fracture, left alone
w/ no cervical spine exam
after this fall. I competed
in the Olympic fl oor fi nal
minutes later. @Simone_
Biles decision demon-
strates that we have a say
in our own health—“a say”
I NEVER felt I had as an
Olympian,” former Ameri-
can gymnast and best-
selling author Dominique
Moceanu said on Twitter,
sharing a balance beam
fall she suffered back dur-
ing the 1996 Olympics.
It’s just so much pres-
sure,” fellow Olympic
gymnast Aly Raisman told
Today. “There’s only so
much she can take. She’s
human — sometimes peo-
ple forget that.” Raisman
said she was “devastated”
to learn Biles had dropped
out of the competition but
was most concerned about
whether Biles is OK.
“Simone is human,”
Biles to compete in balance beam
By Will Graves
Associated Press
TOKYO — Simone Biles is back.
The 2016 Olympic gymnastics
champion will return to competi-
tion in the balance beam fi nal on
Tuesday, Aug. 3, a little over a week
after stepping away from the meet
to focus on her mental health.
“We are so excited to confi rm
that you will see two U.S. athletes
in the balance beam fi nal tomor-
row — Suni Lee AND Simone
Biles!! Can’t wait to watch you
both!” USA Gymnastics said in a
statement.
The 24-year-old Biles won
bronze on beam in Rio de Janeiro
fi ve years ago and qualifi ed for the
eight-woman fi nal at the Ariake
Gymnastics Centre on the fi rst
weekend of the Games.
She removed herself from the
team fi nal on July 27 after a shaky
performance on vault during the
fi rst rotation. She watched from
the sidelines as her three American
teammates completed the meet
without her; the U.S. took silver
behind the team known as the Rus-
sian Olympic Committee.
The six-time Olympic medalist
later said she was dealing with
issues surrounding air awareness,
referred to as “the twisties” in
her sport.
Raisman reiterated. “She
has pains like all of us, she
has stress like all of us. It’s
insane how much pressure
is on her.”
One thing for certain,
those branding Biles as a
quitter need to listen to
Biles, who made it clear
that her problems started
only after she arrived in
Tokyo.
“No, this was not
happening before I left
the USA,” she wrote on
Instagram. “It randomly
started happening after
prelims competition the
VERY next morning. By
that time NO an alter-
nate was not allowed to
be placed in my position
for all your ‘know it alls.’
We have four on a team
for a reason. I chose to not
continue team competi-
tion in jeopardizing losing
a medal (of any color) for
the girls/US. Also, for my
own safety and health.
For anyone saying I quit,
I didn’t quit. My mind and
body are simply not in
sync. I don’t think you re-
alize how dangerous this
is on a hard/competition
surface. Nor do I have to
explain why I put health
fi rst. Physical health is
mental health.”
Corey Kirk is sports editor
for the Baker City Herald.