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Post by Admin on Jul 31, 2021 19:16:13 GMT
MyKayla Skinner's dream of winning an Olympic medal is, suddenly, still alive. http://instagram.com/p/CR-TPPIld6y On Saturday, USA Gymnastics announced that Simone Biles would no longer compete in the women's gymnastics vault final on Sunday and Skinner would replace the 24-year-old veteran captain of the U.S. women's gymnastics roster. "[Biles] will continue to be evaluated daily to determine whether to compete in the finals for floor exercise and balance beam," gymnastics officials said of the change. "MyKayla Skinner, who had the fourth-highest score in vault during qualifications, will compete in vault finals for the U.S. alongside Jade Carey, who finished with the second-highest score." After the announcement was made, Skinner shared her excitement on Instagram as well as her support for Biles, a close friend. "Looks like I get to put a competition Leo on just one more time. Can't wait to compete in vault finals," the 24-year-old Arizona native said. "Doing this for us @simonebiles ❤️ It's go time baby!" Skinner, who was selected as an individual and not as a member of the U.S. team — which was instead made up of Biles, Sunisa Lee, Jordan Chiles and Grace McCallum — did not qualify for any event final after competing on all four apparatuses during Sunday's qualifying round and had finished in 10th place in the all-around rankings with a total score of 55.398. Shortly before Saturday's statement, Skinner's mother, Kym, spoke with PEOPLE about the "truly amazing" opportunity of MyKayla possibly stepping in for Biles, who has cited mental health concerns and the loss of her air awareness as her reason for her withdrawals so far. "We talk a lot in our family, like 'Who would've guessed the way this thing went?' It's been so i
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Post by Admin on Aug 1, 2021 13:11:06 GMT
MyKayla Skinner of Gilbert, Ariz., who replaced Simone Biles in the women’s vault event final when Biles withdrew for mental health reasons, won a silver medal Sunday that was years in coming. Skinner, 25, was an alternate to the 2016 U.S. team at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics and retired from elite gymnastics to compete at the University of Utah. However, she decided to make a comeback to the tougher Olympic track, an effort that was sidetracked when she contracted COVID-19 and pneumonia last winter. She had the fourth-highest vault score in the qualifying phase but didn’t automatically advance to the final because fellow Americans Biles and Jade Carey ranked ahead of her and there’s a two-competitor-per-country rule in event finals. However, when Biles withdrew to take care of her mental and physical health, Skinner got her chance to compete — and she made the most of it. Rebeca Andrade of Brazil won the gold medal with a two-vault average of 15.083. Skinner averaged 14.916, with Yeo Seojeong of Korea third at 14.733. Carey appeared to miscount her steps on her run-up to the vault table, throwing her off. She did a basic vault, called a Yurchenko back tuck, and got a score of 11.933. Shaken, she tried to regroup but with mixed results, doing a vault called an Amanar and landing off balance for a deduction of 2.0 and a score of 12.9. Her average was 12.416. Her father, Brian, is also her coach, and he quickly embraced her and tried to comfort her. Carey finished eighth. Biles and other U.S. competitors watched and cheered from the stands during the competition at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre.
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Post by Admin on Aug 1, 2021 19:48:47 GMT
Team USA has been one of -- if not the -- dominant women's gymnastics team at the Olympics in the 21st century, and even without the greatest of all-time able to compete in the first of the event finals at Tokyo 2020, the U.S. still found the podium multiple times. MyKayla Skinner took the silver medal in the vault, scoring a 14.916 and Suni Lee, the individual all-around champion, won a bronze medal on the uneven bars. The 24-year-old Skinner was the replacement for Simone Biles in the vault final, and improved on her 14.866 score in qualifying. She did not make the team final for the U.S., but was still able to wind up with a medal, as Biles was sidelined with the twisties and to tend to mental health trouble that had been plaguing her since the beginning of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Brazil's Rebeca Andrade, who took silver in the individual all-around, won gold on the vault, giving Brazil it's first ever Olympic gold in women's gymnastics. Lee, meanwhile, found the podium for the third time in these Olympic Games with a bronze medal on the uneven bars. She posted the top score on the bars during her gold medal-winning performance in the individual all-around with a 15.300, and managed a 14.500 to collect a bronze medal to complete a rainbow of medals in Tokyo. Lee also collected a silver medal with Team USA in the team competition. Belgium's Nina Derwael won gold on the uneven bars. As for the men's finals on Sunday, Israel's Artem Dolgopyat won gold in the floor exercise with American Yul Moldauer finishing eighth, while Great Britain's Max Whitlock won gold on the pommel horse. Team USA's Alec Yoder finished in sixth place.
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Post by Admin on Aug 2, 2021 4:50:31 GMT
A week ago, MyKayla Skinner thought her Olympic dreams were done. Despite qualifying fourth in the world on vault, she was third among the Americans and thus ineligible to compete in the individual final here due to a two-gymnast per country rule. For the 24-year-old who was an alternate at the 2016 Summer Games but never got to compete there, a familiar end had arrived. “Heartbroken is an understatement,” she wrote on Instagram at the time. One week later, armed with a second chance … she took second place. Skinner won silver on vault, behind only Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade, who beat the American 15.083 to 14.916. Seojeong Yeo of South Korea took bronze. The gold for Andrade is the first ever for a Brazilian gymnast. “I was actually going to get on a plane to go home,” Skinner said. “I wasn’t expecting any of this to happen. I was like [my teammates] are going to be fine, they are going to be good.” Skinner was given a chance to compete in the vault final after Simone Biles, the event’s top qualifier, withdrew citing a lack of mental focus and an inability to compete. Biles initially withdrew from the team event last Tuesday and almost immediately told USA Gymnastics to tell Skinner to stick around, because she might be needed on vault. “Simone was like, 'Text MyKayla and tell her not to go home in case she has to step in,'” Skinner said. “She was on it like that.” For Skinner, the week was an emotional roller coaster. She was emotionally down after qualifying. “It was devastating,” she said. “It took two days before I was like, ‘OK, I’m good, I did my best.’” By Saturday, she was back. “I thought, ‘Oh my gosh I am going to be competing again,’” Skinner said. “To be able to change my mindset has been a little bit difficult.” It didn’t show in the competition. She went first in the final and delivered a 14.916 combined score. She received a 15.033 (6.0 difficulty, 9.033 execution) on the Cheng and then a 14.800 (5.8 difficulty, 9.000 execution) on the Amanar to take an early lead. Both vaults are the same Biles typically performs.
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Post by Admin on Aug 4, 2021 5:03:59 GMT
MyKayla Skinner Says Simone Biles Will Not Be Twisting In New Beam Dismount (EXCLUSIVE) Simone Biles is going for the gold in balance beam and her teammate, MyKayla Skinner, is standing by her side. It was announced on Monday that the 24-year-old star athlete plans to compete in the balance beam final on Tuesday alongside fellow Team USA Competitor Suni Lee. Access Hollywood’s Scott Evans spoke to Simone’s Olympics roommate, MyKayla Skinner, who detailed how Simone made the decision to return to the beam. http://instagram.com/p/CQt5kW2tPFN “I feel like last night, she’s like, ‘I’m ready for this, I feel like I can do this dismount and I feel really prepared’ so I think last night was the night she knew that she was going to be ready to go in and step in and do this,” Mykayla said. MyKayla said she is glad Simone made this choice and hopes she can put everything behind her and focus on her upcoming event. “She’s been working a new beam dismount so she’s not going to be doing twisting which is really good, and she said she’s feeling really confident,” she explained.
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