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STUTTGART, Germany – Simone
Biles is the ultimate security blanket.
The U.S. women’s gymnastics team
kept its golden streak intact with a fifth
consecutive title in the world champi-
onships Tuesday, and it’s largely thanks
to Biles’ composure. Well, that and her
jaw-dropping talent, which was on full
display as she brought down the house
with her final floor routine.
But it was Biles who settled the
Americans while one team after another
saw its medals hopes disappear in a
cloud of chalk dust. When Grace McCal-
lum botched a skill on uneven bars,
swinging wildly to keep herself from
falling off, and when Sunisa Lee tum-
bled off balance beam, Biles was there in
the next routine to pick them up.
“To have somebody with that level of
experience,” national team coordinator
Tom Forster said, “it’s absolutely reas-
suring.”
The U.S. women have won every
world and Olympic title since 2011, a run
of dominance rarely seen in a sport
where being even a millimeter off can
leave you sprawling on the floor, your
medal hopes next to you. And it’s not
been close.
In the “Simone Era,” which began
with the 2013 world championships, the
Americans have won every title by five
points or better. Their score of 172.
points Tuesday was nearly six points
ahead of Russia.
See the score from the 49ers’ beat-
down of the Browns?
Yeah. It’s like that.
Biles is a big factor in that, obviously.
The greatest gymnast of her and every
other generation, she does skills nobody
else even dares try, and does them bet-
ter. She alone accounted for 2^1 ⁄ 2 points of
the Americans’ winning margin, posting
the highest scores on vault, balance
beam and floor exercise.
But it’s more than Biles’ gymnastics.
The U.S. women rarely make major
errors – this is believed to be the first

time since 2010 they’ve had to count a

fall in team finals. But they have the se-

curity of knowing that, even if they do,

Biles will be there to bail them out. The

mistakes won’t snowball, as they did

with, say, China.

The Chinese, second in qualifying,

knew they had to score big on uneven

bars and balance beam to have any

chance of catching the Americans. But

Chen Yile struggled through her bar rou-

tine, and team captain Liu Tingting fell

not once, but twice.

On beam, the next event, Liu fell

again and went over the time limit. By

the time that rotation was over, so were

their medal hopes.

Scenarios like that played out all over

the floor, as teams crumbled at the

thought of winning a medal or just un-

der the general pressure.

“They saw that after qualifications

they did very good and some teams felt

they could get the medal. I think they

put too much pressure on themselves,”

said Laurent Landi, Biles’ coach.

Now contrast that with the Ameri-

cans.

Their scores on vault, their first

event, were good enough to secure them

the title. But with three rotations still to

go, you can’t bank on that.

Sure enough, McCallum, first up on

uneven bars, stalled on a handstand af-

ter a pirouette. Then, on beam, Lee had a

big wobble and then the fall.

But instead of getting carried away by

the errors, the Americans let Biles carry

them. Up next after both McCallum and

Lee, Biles delivered what are probably

her best routines of the entire summer

on both uneven bars and balance beam.

“Simone knows herself. She knows

how to calm herself down and to per-

form under a lot of pressure – and after

some of the little ones have made mis-

takes here and there,” Landi said.

Added alternate MyKayla Skinner,

“She’s incredible, and she’s always, al-

ways there to count on.”

It’s not that Biles doesn’t feel the

same pressure as everyone else. She

does.

But she’s learned how to block it out

and deliver.

For all of Biles’ medals – this latest

gold was her 21st in world champion-

ships, a record for a female gymnast –

it’s the team ones she cherishes. So

when the U.S. needs her most, she is at

her best.

“We all put in a team effort for this

medal,” she said, “so it’s really special.”

Biles closed the Americans’ night

with a jaw-dropping performance on

floor. Her triple-twisting, double somer-

sault pass – now known as the Biles II –

was breathtaking. She soared so high,

she probably could have dusted off one

of the lights. Not only did she stay in

bounds on the landing, she stuck it,

barely moving a muscle.

By the end of the routine, she was

grinning and her teammates were jump-

ing up and down, secure in the knowl-

edge they were golden yet again.

“The other day we walked out there,

and I was like, ‘I literally hate this feel-

ing. I don’t know why I keep forcing my-

self to do it. I hate that feeling like I’m

gonna puke,’ ” Biles said. “We love the

thrill of it, so it reminds me to never give

up. Because one day, I won’t have the

opportunity to get that feeling.”

Got gold? Biles, US women do – again

Simone

Biles,

warming

up on the

uneven

bars

Tuesday,

accounted

for 2^1 ⁄ 2

points of

the USA’s

winning

margin.

MATTHIAS

SCHRADER/AP

Nancy Armour

Columnist

USA TODAY

Duke men’s basketball coach Mike
Krzyzewski supported California’s “Fair
Pay to Play” law that will allow college
athletes to profit off their name, image
and likeness, and he called on the entire
sport to embrace change.
“I don’t – and won’t –
pretend to understand all
the complexities of such
a change,” he said in the
statement Tuesday at the
Atlantic Coast Confer-
ence’s 2019 Operation
Basketball preseason
event. “However, it is a
sign of the times that we in college ath-
letics must continually adapt, albeit in a
sensible manner. We need to stay cur-
rent with what’s happening. I’m glad it
was passed because it pushes the enve-
lope, it pushes the issue.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Califor-
nia’s new law last week, with the change
set to take place by 2023. The law, in di-
rect opposition to the NCAA’s longtime
amateur model forbidding profit, will al-
low the state’s college athletes to hire
agents and be paid for endorsements.
While the five-time national champi-
on coach did not name the NCAA specif-
ically in the statement, he made it clear
the organization’s current guidelines
are no longer sufficient, urging for a na-
tionwide initiative to act in the best in-
terest of student-athletes.
“While we have made significant pro-
gress in recent years, we have not al-
ways responded to the needs and rights
of our players swiftly, and frankly, we’re
playing catch-up after years of stagnant
rules,” Krzyzewski said. “I hope and
trust that not only will there be a plan to
put the student-athletes’ best interests
at the forefront, but that we’ll also have
a firm plan for implementation at the
national level.”
Krzyzewski, who coached No. 1 NBA
draft pick Zion Williamson last season,
has in the past indicated his desire for
players to be compensated for their like-
ness. In March, he said in part: “We
need a new model.”
Few reaction:Gonzaga men’s coach

Mark Few, who has overseen one of the

premier mid-major programs in college

basketball for 20 years, was asked about

the prospect of players earning money

off things such as California’s new law in

an interview with veteran reporter Jeff

Goodman.

While Few, whose school is in Spo-

kane, Washington, expressed his sup-

port for players receiving payment off

name/image/likeness, he was highly

critical of Newsom and the extended

discourse surrounding the bill.

“How do you look at this changing

the landscape of college athletics, and

do you like it? Do you like part of it? Are

you completely against kids getting

anything? Where are you?” Goodman

asked.

Replied Few: “It’s an incredibly com-

plex issue, it’s like healthcare in Amer-

ica.”

“First of all I would love to figure out a

way – and I think we got a great group of

people working on that – what I find to-

tally disappointing and disgusting is

that a governor is wasting his time

grandstanding around (on) something

that he doesn’t really understand when

.00001 percent of his constituents are

going to be impacted by this.

“He should probably stay in his lane –

like I tell my players – and figure out

homelessness, and I think he’s got a

state that borders Mexico and get that

mess figured out, and the budget and

some things like that.”

Few later added: “That being said, if

there was a way we could monetize like-

ness and regulate it in a way to keep a

fair playing field for everybody, then I’m

all for it. If you’re selling Adam Morrison

jerseys ... of the two guys who could

have made a lot of money last year, ev-

erybody thinks Zion (Williamson), let

me tell you something, Rui (Hachimura,

already an icon of sorts in his native Ja-

pan) ...”

“Would have made money,” Good-

man replied.

“Yeah. I would have been all for it and

I am all for it, but I’m not all for grand-

standing politicians entering in or

media members pulling low-hanging

fruit off.”

Contributing: Jace Evans

Two coaches back

fair pay-to-play idea

Scott Gleeson
USA TODAY

Krzyzewski