There were two major sporting events in downtown St. Louis last Sunday.
One was sold out. One drew just over 50 percent capacity.
Simone Biles and U.S. Gymnastics attracted a capacity crowd of almost 21,000 to the Dome at America’s Center. The mighty St. Louis Cardinals drew 25,163 to Busch Stadium, far short of a sell-out crowd of near 50,000.
Biles and the gymnastics trials were the hottest ticket in St. Louis – and drew interest from fans around the world.
The Cardinals are mired in a month-long slump, it was hot, humid and the game experienced an hour-long rain delay. Fans knew it would be a long, hot day, so many decided to pass on baseball.
Biles is the face of the U.S. Olympic team, and the region had more support for her on Sunday than the Cardinals. Hard to believe, isn’t it.
Biles’ every move was greeted with thunderous applause and cheers, and she received multiple standing ovations during the two days of trials.
St. Louis did not see Biles at her best – but it did get to see the world’s greatest gymnast achieve her goal of reaching the Tokyo Olympics. She made more errors on Sunday than she made in total since 2018.
She fell off the balance beam, stepped out of bounds on a floor exercise and slipped up on the uneven bars.
Yet, she still heads into the Olympics as the overwhelming favorite to win multiple gold medals.
A frustrated Biles was reduced to tears, even after qualifying for the Tokyo games with an overall first-place finish with a score of 118.098.
“I’ve been emotional this whole week,” Biles told NBC after her challenging win.
“I can’t believe Olympic trials is here again. I can’t believe I’m here again. The journey has been surreal, five years later and we’re doing it again.
“I was just really upset, everybody came out here and gave their heart, and I just didn’t give my best performance.”
She heads to the Olympics as the team’s leader – and as the most recognizable face of all American athletes who will participate in the Games.
“I feel like I have a lot of wisdom and can guide them through the meets,” Biles said.
“I just want to keep everyone cool, calm and collected.”
Qualifying with Biles on the four-member women’s team are Sunisa Lee, Jordan Chiles and Grace McCallum MyKayla Skinner and Jade Carey will compete as individuals and their scores do not count toward the team’s total.
The men’s team will feature Brody Malone, Yul Moldauer, Sam Mikulak, Shane Wiskus and Alec Yoder.
Summer Olympics gymnastics run from July 24 through Aug. 3 at Ariak Gymnastics Centre in Tokyo.
Getting haters goat
Have you noticed Biles sports a goat on her leotards?
It has been there since 2019 when fans first began calling her the Greatest of All Times (GOAT.)
“I don’t think of myself as the G.O.A.T. and that’s not why I wear the goat on my leo. It was kind of a joke in the beginning,” she told People magazine before this week’s trials.
“I wore one in 2019 and it was just funny because the haters were so upset. What we did is to kind of tick them off even more. So, I was happy because it is like good, now you guys are annoyed because you’re annoying me.”
Spoken like a true champion – and Tom Brady.
The Reid Roundup
Four-time gold medalist Serena Williams will not compete at the Summer Olympics in Japan. Williams, a 23-time Grand Slam singles champion, is now in competition for her eighth Wimbledon title and a record-tying 24th major championship. She topped Aliaksandra Sasnovich on Tuesday in their first-round match…The NFL held its GM Forum, named after Ozzie Newsome, on June 21 and followed up with its fourth annual QB Coaching Summit the next two days. There are only four Black GMs and three Black head coaches in a 32-team league where about 70% of the players are minorities. Eric Bieniemy, Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator, Houston Texans assistant coach Pep Hamilton, Philadelphia Eagles quarterbacks coach Brian Johnson and several other coaches made presentations. We will have to wait to see if they land head coaching jobs soon…MLB, its Players Association and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum have joined to present 101 Negro League Baseball facts on social media platforms. The series began on June 25 and runs through October 3, the last day of the 2021 regular season. Videos can be found at (MLB.com/NegroLeagues101) and on the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum social media platform (@NLBMuseumKC.)
