Kritik und Lob » 50-year-old Fijian, inducted into the World Gol

RIO DE JANEIRO -- So this is what the year-in, year-out relentless talking about chasing perfection that starts at the top with Martha Karolyi and trickles on down to every gymnast on the five-woman U.S. Olympic team can do: Sometimes, crazy as it sounds, the idea actually does start animating every goal, permeating everyones thoughts, shaping what their dreams look like, until they get to the point where here they are in Rio, and near-perfection is literally, actually coming true.With three days down in the Olympic womens gymnastics competition and three days of individual events to go, the U.S. team is halfway to a perfect sweep of all six of the available gold medals that will be awarded here in Rio, a pie-in-the-sky sounding thought that nobody was really talking that much about before these Games began.Now look: The U.S. defended its team gold on Tuesday. Simone Biles and Aly Raisman finished 1-2 in the individual all-around on Thursday night, extending the American teams hold on that title to four straight Olympics.Biles -- already the most decorated female gymnast in history - has also qualified first for the individual events finals in the vault, floor exercise and beam and could take gold in all three. Teammate Madison Kocian has the highest qualifying score in the remaining event, the uneven bars, where shes a reigning world co-champion, and Gabby Douglas qualified third-best in that event, just a tenth of a point behind her. If Biles would falter on floor or beam, Raisman and Laurie Hernandez were the second-best qualifiers on those events behind her, respectively.But could they really run the table? Finish perfect? Pull off a clean sweep of six golds in six events?That would just be crazy, Biles admitted.Notice she also didnt rule it out.Its mind over matter, Raisman said, describing her philosophy about she frames whats possible and how she navigates doubt. If you believe you can or you cant, you probably will.Both of them looked a little weary Friday morning when they met the press. The wakeup call and ride to the Olympic main press center for their 9:30 a.m. session with Kocian, Douglas and Hernandez had to feel like it came early for them. It was the morning after an emotional night that Biles repeatedly called the best day of her 19-year-old life, but now the just-crowned Olympic all-around champion sat on the edge of the dais, trying to stay off her feet. Down the line, Raisman was re-living what she called her redemptive performance for the silver medal and how gratified she felt about her 4-for-4 night without a bobble in her routines, but she also sat in a chair, conserving energy.If they were exhausted, they wouldnt admit it.I think if you ask [multi-event swimmer] Michael Phelps, he would say the same thing -- you know you have less left to do, so you just keep going, said Biles.If Biles, the reigning three-time world champion, does sweep all three of her remaining events, and Kocians, Hernandezs, Raismans and Douglas coming performances match their qualifying scores, the U.S. team could walk away from these Olympics with a total of 14 medals scattered among the five-woman team. Thats extraordinary.So far, they have hit all 20 routines theyve thrown. If they go 7-for-7 in the coming three days, pushing them to 27-for-27 at this competition, that Final Five nickname theyve chosen for themselves -- partly as an homage to 73-year-old Karolyi, who is retiring after Rio -- might seem too pedestrian to capture it all.It could be a long time before the sport sees a team as deep and talented and immune to pressure as this team has been.Told Friday they are making this look easy, Biles -- ever the cold-eyed pragmatist -- looked at the TV reporter who made the statement and said, Well, thats our job, crinkling her nose a little as if its so obvious. If we make it look tough, she added, I think it would be a problem.Everyone laughed.Raisman is right, of course, to say the teams relentless pursuit of perfection is a mindset as much as happy accident of timing that put them all together like this at the same time and place in history. Both she and Aimee Boorman, Biles coach, have paid homage again and again the past two days to Karolyis tone-setting guidance. Boorman told a story about how when Biles got to the beam Thursday night, the most landmine-strewn of all the events, and she was trailing Russias Aliya Mustafina by a few tenths, I was thinking, JUST DONT FALL Boorman admitted. But Simone just looked at me and said, I got this. Thats something Martha does such a great job with them. She teaches them that attitude throughout their training. She tells them, How many times have you done these sets?Now theyre at the point they repeat it all reflexively -- the mantra, their sets, the all-for-one attitude that Karolyi also insisted on. As Mihai Brestyan, Raismans longtime personal coach, said, You have all the time the biggest expectations. But then here, you seen its happening! As Raisman finished her final event, the floor, Thursday night, she could see him out of the corner of her eye, pumping his fists and starting to cry.After the medals by Biles and Raisman were won, it was actually a little humorous Thursday night to see Karolyi -- ever the teacher, forever a coach -- lingering in the nearly empty mixed-zone press area long after the all-around event was over, energetically explaining the perfection mantra to an overseas TV crew who asked her how the U.S. program became this good. It was like watching a preacher who loves to spread the Word. The longer Karolyi has preached chasing perfection, the more it has seemed to come true. Sixteen years ago when she started imprinting the idea on the drifting U.S. program, it seemed like a buzzword shed dusted off from the days she coached Nadia Comenci to a gold medals and perfect 10s at the 1976 Games. No one says that anymore.Karolyi likes to say, Perfection is an attitude, not just an act. 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Takahashi, who had a 10-point lead after the short program, received 268.31 points after the free skate to finish 15 points ahead of second-place Nobunari Oda. PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- One spectator wore fake deer antlers. Another yelled about eating venison. And a group of guys shouted, "Stay off the spray, Vijay." But for the most part, there was little public reaction to Vijay Singhs lawsuit filed against the PGA Tour during the opening round of The Players Championship on Thursday. Hecklers were few and far between at TPC Sawgrass -- possibly because it was a well-behaved golf crowd, possibly because it was Singhs home course and possibly because few care enough to make a public outcry. "He doesnt deserve that," playing partner Robert Garrigus said. "I dont know how many majors hes won. I dont know how many tournaments hes won. Hes won a lot of money out here. He deserves our respect as players even if hes suing the PGA Tour or not. Its a delicate situation right now. Unfortunately, it had to happen. But it is what it is. ... "I only heard a couple of idiots out there today. They were getting a little saucy. There were a couple of guys being stupid, but other than that, it was fine." Singh sued the PGA Tour on Wednesday for exposing him to "public humiliation and ridicule" during a 12-week investigation into his use of deer antler spray. The tour dropped its case last week. The lawsuit and its timing raised eyebrows. The Players Championship is the tours flagship event and is played on the course Singh has honed his game on for the past decade. But there was little reaction from the Stadium Course gallery. The most noticeable response came at the first tee, where Jacksonville resident Jim Kavanagh wore those felt antlers. "He wont talk to the press, so I thought maybe I could get a reaction out of him," Kavanagh told reporters. "He shouldnt be suing the PGA Tour. He should be suing WADA." Garrigus noticed the antlers and sarcastically called them "pretty special." Nonetheless, he couldnt avoid joking about the lawsuit. "I kind of made fun of it today on the first tee just to loosen things up a little bit, which I do very well," Garrigus said. "I was like, Well, youre in the spotlight right now, arent you big guy? Hes like, Yeah, for the wrong reasons. It was fun." They laughed, and Garrigus let it go for the rest of the round. "I didnt get into it," he said. "I dont know the details; I dont know what hes suing for and all that stuff. Hes obviously earned the respect until everything goes through. Thats what Im saying about that." On the par-3 third, a woman shouted, "We dont care what the PGA Tour says. We supportt Vijay" as the golfer passed.dddddddddddd Singh even played the famed and often raucous island-green at No. 17 without much fanfare. There was a "you (stink)" comment on the 18th, followed a few minutes later by someone shouting, "We got your back, Vijay." "He was fine out there," said J.J. Henry, who also played in the group with Singh. "I dont know much about it. Im out here trying to tackle a tough golf course. Ive played a lot of golf with him and hes always been good to me. That stuff is none of my business. Im trying to figure out how to stay out of some of these hazards." Singh bogeyed two of the first three holes and fell 12 shots off the lead with a double at No. 8. He rallied on the back nine, making birdies at 16 and 17, but pulled his next tee shot into the water and finished with a bogey and a 2-over 74. He is tied for 99th, 11 shots behind Roberto Castro. Singh said in a Sports Illustrated article in January that he used deer antler spray and he was "looking forward to some change in my body." The spray was said to include an insulin-like growth factor that was on the tours list of banned substances. The tour sent a sample from Singh to be tested, and it returned small amounts of IGF-1. PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem announced April 30 that the tour was dropping its case because of new information from the World Anti-Doping Agency, which said deer antler spray was no longer considered prohibited because it contained just minimal amounts of the growth factor. The lawsuit claims the PGA Tour relied on WADAs list of banned substances and methods without doing any of its own research, including whether such substances even provide any performance-enhancing benefits. Singhs lawyers said the tour "rushed to judgment and accused one of the worlds hardest working and most dedicated golfers of violating the rules of the game." The 50-year-old Fijian, inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2006, hasnt spoken to reporters about any subject since releasing a statement in February confirming that he took the deer antler spray. He declined comment after his opening round. Singh had about a dozen or so spectators following him Thursday, maybe the most telling sign of his career. Singh has the Masters and the PGA Championship among his 34 tour victories. He holds the PGA Tour record with 22 wins since turning 40. His best year was in 2004, when he won nine times. Singh has not won since the Deutsche Bank Championship in September 2008, two months after the tours anti-doping program was launched. ' ' '