Definitely a newsworthy night as The Goat, Simone Biles, withdrew. She looked completely uncomfortable (for her) coming off her first vault, and that one run closed a chapter here in Tokyo.
From then, it was up to her teammates to pull through, and they did, magnificently, bringing home a silver medal. The ROC team was outstanding to watch through their impeccable routines, and they took the gold.
Sunisa Lee was amazing on the balance beam for Team USA, as was Viktoriia Listunova, for ROC.
And Great Britain took the bronze. On their team there are twins Jennifer and Jessica Gadirova. You have to go back into your take to figure out which is which via their numbers! Both are amazing leapers, and wonderful to watch.
Jennifer flies.
And her sister Jessica spins in the air.
Tech notes: Excellent lens for a night like the women’s team finals is a 200-400, which is what I shot for most of the pictures. Hemmed in at one spot, you try to strategize and make one event a primary look, but be able to reach a couple others with the zoom throw. The D6 tracks amazingly well for this type of action, which if you’re not a gymnastics shooter (which I definitely am not) it can seriously take you by surprise.
News of the night aside….these athletes are just incredible to watch.
More tk…
Love the shots Joe – some great moments! And hats off to the American women who fought, and to Simone, who should incredible courage in realizing that it was in her best interests not to continue – and to be a cheerleader! We’re taught to push thru adversity, fears, doubts in order to succeed – but obviously there was something not right with her and the risk of potential injury was too great to ignore. She is indeed a champion!
Amazing capture of the emotions of the evening
Joe, these shots are really exciting showing the skill of the athletes as well as sharing the wonder that we as spectators would feel at the seemingly impossible feats they perform. Thank you for your generosity in sharing them.