OLYMPICS roundup

GYMNASTICS

Biles, Douglas qualify for Rio Games

SAN JOSE, CALIF.

Simone Biles can officially book that plane ticket for Brazil. Same for defending Olympic champion Gabby Douglas.

Biles, the three-time world gymnastics champion, secured her spot on the U.S. Olympic team with a near flawless tour of the SAP Center on Sunday night, earning an automatic berth on the five-woman team by strolling to the all-around title at the Olympic Trials.

Biles will be joined in Rio de Janeiro by Douglas, three-time Olympic medalist Aly Raisman, Madison Kocian and Laurie Hernandez. MyKayla Skinner, Ragan Smith and Ashton Locklear are the alternates.

While Biles has been a lock for months, the path to the Olympics was far murkier for Douglas. A revelation in London four years ago, the 20-year-old has struggled with her form in recent weeks and fell off balance beam for a second straight night while finishing seventh behind Biles.

But she finished third on uneven bars behind Kocian and Locklear, and national team coordinator Martha Karolyi has long believed in Douglas’ ability to turn it up when the pressure is on.

Biles, who hasn’t lost in more than three years, posted a two-day total of 123.250. The trials put an end to three-plus years of anticipation for the electrifying 19-year-old, who has rapidly developed from bouncy prodigy to arguably the greatest gymnast of all-time.

The only thing missing on a resume that includes 14 world championship medals and four national titles is Olympic gold. She will head to Rio as the heavy favorite to become the fourth straight American to stand atop the podium at the end of the all-around finals on Aug. 11, the brightest star on a squad that is very much the gymnastics equivalent of the Michael Jordan-led Dream Team that overwhelmed the 1992 Games.

TRACK AND FIELD

Felix misses on 200

EUGENE, ORE.

Allyson Felix had the star power to change the Olympic schedule.

Now, it’s her schedule that needs adjusting.

Felix’s run at the 200-400 Olympic double, made possible after Olympics officials honored her request for a chance to run both races, came to an earlier-than-expected end Sunday. She finished fourth in the 200-meter final, one spot away from Rio, in a .01-second loss to a sprawling Jenna Prandini at U.S. Track and Field Trials.

“Honestly, disappointed,” said Felix, who will not get a chance to defend her Olympic title in her signature event. “The whole year, that has been what I was working for. When I look back and see everything that happened, I still think it’s quite amazing I was able to make the team.”

She did make the 400-meter lineup, and that is, indeed, quite an accomplishment considering the injury she suffered this spring. After landing awkwardly on an exercise ball while doing core work, she rolled her right ankle.

The injury was so severe she avoided running around the track in the correct, counterclockwise direction until just before trials, for fear she would put too much outside pressure on her injured ankle.

In track parlance, a sprinter doesn’t necessarily have to be “fast” to succeed in the 400 — a full lap around the track in which technique is more important than pure speed. But in the 200, it takes a more aggressive lean into the curve at the opening of the race — just the sort of “speed work” Felix didn’t get enough of during her slow comeback.

“I could only do what I could with the ankle,” she said.

And so, she started slow, never made up ground against winner Tori Bowie or second-place Deajah Stevens and could not hold off Prandini, the former University of Oregon star who had to wait about 30 seconds to see the result for third place go up on the board.

Associated Press