Rushed to hospital on Friday night, the gymnast returns to lead US to the top
Vinay Nayudu
Doha
Off the arena troubles just don't seem to trouble the sensational Simone Biles. Not even being at a hospital and being bothered by a kidney stone on the eve of her big return to international gymnastics.
Rushed to the hospital on Friday night and being diagnosed of kidney stone, the 21-year-old American shrugged it off only to hit the Aspire Dome on Saturday evening and set in motion her brilliant performances including once in the vault which is being termed as 'history in the making'.
The 'vault of death' (round-off, half turn onto the table, double-twisting layout front somersault) which includes a 720 degrees twist would be named after Biles if she goes on to win the event at the 48th FIG Artistic Gymnastic World Championships Doha 2018.
Unperturbed and smiling as always, Biles led the USA team to the top in the women's team qualifications in style.
And more interestingly, she later revealed that she would name her kidney stone as 'Doha Pearl' since it was so big.
"We're calling it 'Doha Pearl' because it's quite large and I don't think I'll pass this one, but we'll see," she laughed.
On coping with the pain caused by her kidney stone, she said,"As an athlete my pain tolerance is definitely a little higher than your average person, I guess.
"My pain has been a lot lower than it has been in the last couple of days, so that's good. I think the team really cheers me up in the aspect and adrenaline kicked in, so I think that really helped a lot."
On her decision to compete, she explained,"It was definitely 100 per cent my decision. Nobody forced me to be out here. I'm really happy that they let me decide what I wanted to do.
"And, I think tonight went pretty well overall. I had a little mistake on bars but I kept it going. I think, for the rest, I tried to stay as calm as possible and to relax."
Even then, the ten-time world champion, back on the international stage for the first time since the Rio Olympics, finished on a whopping 60.965 points, comfortably ahead of defending champion and compatriot Morgan Hurd, who finished on 56.465.
Japan's Mai Murakami was third on 55.632 after qualifiers on the vault, uneven bars, beam and floor exercise.
Biles also finished a provisional first place in the vault, beam and floor competitions.
The only apparatus in which she did not claim top spot was the uneven bars, where she finished second to Belgium's Nina Derwael.
"I heard rollercoasters may help kidney stones and I am basically my own little rollercoaster out there," she said after the competition.
It was an ominous day for her rivals and provided a potential taster ahead of Biles' expected dominance this week in Qatar.
And it capped a remarkable 24 hours for the Ohio native, who was admitted to a Doha hospital late on Friday suffering from the kidney stone.
"Nothing like a late night ER visit less than 24 hours before world championships," she had tweeted at the time of her dash to hospital.
She also posted a picture of herself in the emergency room but vowed it would not keep her out of the competition, a promise she duly kept in impressive fashion.
Biles' American squad were also well ahead in the team standings ahead of further qualifiers on Sunday.
The US dominated on 174.429 points, with Japan second on 162.180 and Germany 161.071.
Biles is making her return to the world stage after deciding to take a year off in 2017 following her triumphant showing at the Rio Olympics, where she won four golds.
She is part of an exceptionally strong US unit who are the favourites for team gold, as Biles is herself for several individual events.
Biles won golds at the 2013, 2014 and 2015 world championships, including two in the team event.
If she claims three gold medals in Doha it will make her the first gymnast, female or male, to win 13 world titles.
(Inputs AFP)
