Stephen A. Smith is a New York Times Bestselling Author, Executive Producer, host of ESPN's First Take, and co-host of NBA Countdown.
I want to take a moment to I'm gonna get into Jordan Childs in the second, don't worry about that. But before I do that, I want to give props to Simone Biles, who returned to the Olympic stage and what she called her highly anticipated redemption Tour. Despite her battle with the calf injury, Bobs added four new Olympic medals to her collection and earned the distinction as the most decorated US gymnast in history at the age of twenty seven.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have to take a moment to give her props.
Obviously, she had some anxiety issues at the step out of the Games in twenty twenty. We all remember that we know all too well about that. Let's just knock this down. Let's just break this.
Down for a second.
Here, Team competition, gold medal, all around gold medal, vault gold medal, and the floor exercise she wants silver right.
Bo's eleven career.
Olympic medals, seven gold to silver, two bronze, are the most one by an American gymnast, male or female. She's also tied for second old time for the most medals and women gymnastics with nineteen sixty star Vera Kaslaska of Czechoslovakia Larissa Latynina of the Soviet Union leeds all. It leads with eighteen medals actually including nine goals across the nineteen fifty six, sixty and sixty four Olympics. Obviously, the sport is far more competitive, especially with individual events events specialists today.
So we know that.
But I want to get back to Biles because I want to make sure y'all understand how phenomenal and great this young lady is. Okay, She's earned more national titles and more world championship medals than any man or woman in history, has a combined total of forty one World and Olympic medals.
If impact on US sport is a measure, considered this, y'all.
Biles has five skills named after her. Five named after her, Okay, two on the floor in vault and one on being. No one has been more innovative in the sports current era, which has been defined by power and difficulty. Okay, I'm reading from my notes, all right, and by Biles herself. Many of the skills she competes today may never be replicated. So far, only one gymnast has competed one of her skills, a.
Double layout with a half twist called the Biles one on floor at the Olympics.
This is who we're talking about here, Okay, third woman and first American to become a two time Olympic gymnastics all around champion at twenty seven, the oldest Olympic all around champion.
In seventy two years.
She's also the first gymnast to win all around individual event eight years apart. Bobs took come to go for women's all around in the twenty sixteen Rio Olympics. Okay, this is who we're talking about here. The most celebrated. We've talked about, Michael Phelps, we talked about others, we used to talk about, Carl Lewis.
Back in the day and others. This woman is sensational.
Bob's gold medal also continues Team USA's winning streak and the event in an American has now won an all around gold in six straight Olympics. Also won a record breaking thirty World Championship medals, twenty three gold for silver and three bronze, making her the most decorated gymnast in World Championship history by both a total medal and gold medal count at the twenty twenty Tokyo Olympics, played in twenty twenty one due to COVID remember, she withdrew from several events, citing intense psychological pressure.
In an interview with it.
Today Short at the time, she says she always had anxiety, but that it got really bad in a month's leading up to the Olympics, thus becoming an unexpected advocate for mental health. And in twenty twenty two, Bobbs was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Joe Biden.
Why don't we bring that up? Why is that important? Because here's why.
There's one thing to just go on with your life. It's another thing entirely to go from twenty twenty one having a step away from Olympic competition and coming back just three years later and resuming what the hell you were doing beforehand. Thing on an elite level. That is what that woman has done. And I can't say enough personally about her doing that. Major props to her, major props, and I can't I can't say how gratified I am for Simone Boles is that one she is something special to behold Now her husband playing for the Cargo Bears who let him get away from training camp to go support his wife, which was a beautiful gesture on a part of the Chicago Bears, who I believe is in a very very good place, led by the president and CEO Kevin Warren and and and you know, they kept Evin Flus as their head coach, and you know, got Ryan Poles is your general manager, and all of this other stuff.
They going to.
Caleb Williams is your new quarterback. You know, DJ Moore is your star wide receiver. They going in the right direction. But that brother right there, Simone Bole's husband. Let me tell you something, wife, He's a winner. Your turn, bro, Jonathan Owens Sr.
Turn, Bro, Sr. Turn, Just saying you got a wife winning like that. You want to win two. You know, Taylor Swift is Taylor Swift.
But Travis Kelsey and no damn slots this three time Super Bowl champion, That brother son is special. Arguably the greatest tight end in the history of football. Understand this parallels.
She's great at what she does. He's great at what he does. Small barbs as great as what she does. Jonathan Owens, Your turn, Bro, Your turn? Good luck with that. I believe in you. I want to move on.
Some controversy in gymnastics after Olympic history was made with an all black woman's gymnastics.
Podium for the floor exercise.
Rebecca Andray Day of Brazil. She is special by the way stood atop the podium winning gold in the floor exercise, followed by American Simone Biles winning silver, and of course Jordan Chiles who won bronze. Chiles was where the controversy comes from because even though she won the bronze medal at the very end of the competition, following an appeal over her score, look at what happened thereafter. She was laid a stripped of the medal after by the International Olympic Committee, who said the team didn't appeal the score in time. Now USA Gymnastics says it's obtained new video evidence showing that chiles coach submitted the inquiry before the one minute deadline, and is appealing for Chiles to keep her medal. As for Childs herself, she's taking a break from social media after her mother says Chiles has been on the receiving end of racist.
Backlash online following the ruling.
I don't know where the racist backlash comes from.
Why would they be racist backlash?
What the hell is wrong with people? According to the rules, you get to appeal the decision. She originally received the score of thirteen point sixty six to six before her coaches submitted an inquiry with a judging panel arguing that she should not have received a one tenth deduction.
To her difficult score, which is some kind of split leap.
By the way, The judges agreed and elevated Child scored a thirteen point seven sixty six from thirteen point sixty sixty six, which gave her Olympic bronze and left Barbosu, who scored was thirteen point seven hundred in shock.
The Romanian Gymnastics.
Federation later filed an appeal with the judges claiming that Landy submitted the inquiry into Child's score precisely four seconds past a one minute mark that is a lot for such inquiries, and sided that fact is the basis for its ruling Saturday, which knocked her score back down to thirteen point sixty sixty six. The decision triggered the series of procedural dominoes that eventually prompted the aisle See what announced that it was stripping Childs brons and giving it to Barbosa. What's there to say, you know, I mean, right now, we're going away from competition, and we're talking about rules determining whether somebody walks home with bronze or not because you either followed the complaint before the allotted time expired or after. And Romania is saying it's seventeen seconds later to what Team USA is saying it was.
The Team USA has.
The video, so we gotta go to the videotape, and the videotape shows that the ruling was challenged in the allotted time, then child should have bronze period. If that wasn't the case and they didn't follow in time, didn't protesting time.
So she does it. But the allure, it's.
Not just because we're not talking about gold, we're talking about bronze, but the allure of it all kind of goes out the window because we're getting into administrative and procedural matters to determine whether or not somebody walks on with a metal when what we want to gravitate towards is the actual competition. I feel bad for Childs having her metal stripped from her means a lot.
She put in that hard work, trained for four years for this moment.
I'm certainly empathetic and sympathetic to that, and I hope she gets the bronze.
But for the purposes of us just watching.
We're like, damn procedures, administrative stuff, following and ruling at the time, and did you do it in time or did you not challenge it in time? It's kind of anti climactic. Now, I know that's not that doesn't necessarily suffice for childs. She's the one that put in all the hard work, blood, sweat and tears and compete it and admirably so represent our nation. We're proud of you, girls, We're proud of you, but it's kind of anti climactic for us at this point, only because it's a procedural matter.
That's really what it comes down to.