Sports Heroes
Simone Biles: Olympic Superstar
By Maddy Fitzgerald
You may know Simone Biles as the four time gold medalist and overall five time Olympic medalist, but what was Simone like before she went to the Olympics? Simone Biles was born on March 14th, 1997 in Columbus, Ohio. Simone and her younger sister Adria were adopted and raised by their grandparents, because her mother was unable to care for her.
Her interest in gymnastics started when she went on a field trip with her daycare to the World Champion Center. The center she tried many of the gymnasts’ moves and found could do almost everything they were doing. The coach at the gym, ¨Coach Ronnie¨ saw Simone’s talent and was amazed. It wasn’t long before the gym sent a letter to Simone’s family and requesting that she sign up for tumbling and gymnastics classes. Under the guidance of Coach Ronnie, Simone began to develop her skills.
Simone first began competing as level 8 gymnast in 2007. By 2011, she had reached Junior Elite level. At this level of skill, she was eligible to try out for the 2012 Olympic games in London, but Simone was too young to qualify. This only made Simone want to be an Olympian when she reach qualifying age even more and she trained even harder.
In 2013, she made some catastrophic errors at the Secret U.S. Classic competition. She had falls on floor, beam and bars, which meant she was not even going to try to attempt the vault. After Secret U.S. Classic, Simone thought it was hopeless, nonetheless, Biles got back in the gym and starting training.
Simone went to the P&G Champions in 2013 and because of her training, she was a whole new gymnast. One of her competitors was Kyla Ross a 2012 Olympian. Simone performed flawlessly and used skills with a high level of difficulty. She won gold in the all around and won silver in bars, beam, floor, and vault. This event qualified Biles to be able complete for all four events finals at the Olympics in Rio. The last American to qualify to compete in all four events was Shannon Miller in 1991. Biles performance at the 2016 Olympics games has ranked her among the best gymnasts of all time.
Simone Biles plans to compete at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but she plans take some time off to rest. However, she will not rest for too long, she has big plans to get in the gym and start training and planning her routines for her next world competition.
You may know Simone Biles as the four time gold medalist and overall five time Olympic medalist, but what was Simone like before she went to the Olympics? Simone Biles was born on March 14th, 1997 in Columbus, Ohio. Simone and her younger sister Adria were adopted and raised by their grandparents, because her mother was unable to care for her.
Her interest in gymnastics started when she went on a field trip with her daycare to the World Champion Center. The center she tried many of the gymnasts’ moves and found could do almost everything they were doing. The coach at the gym, ¨Coach Ronnie¨ saw Simone’s talent and was amazed. It wasn’t long before the gym sent a letter to Simone’s family and requesting that she sign up for tumbling and gymnastics classes. Under the guidance of Coach Ronnie, Simone began to develop her skills.
Simone first began competing as level 8 gymnast in 2007. By 2011, she had reached Junior Elite level. At this level of skill, she was eligible to try out for the 2012 Olympic games in London, but Simone was too young to qualify. This only made Simone want to be an Olympian when she reach qualifying age even more and she trained even harder.
In 2013, she made some catastrophic errors at the Secret U.S. Classic competition. She had falls on floor, beam and bars, which meant she was not even going to try to attempt the vault. After Secret U.S. Classic, Simone thought it was hopeless, nonetheless, Biles got back in the gym and starting training.
Simone went to the P&G Champions in 2013 and because of her training, she was a whole new gymnast. One of her competitors was Kyla Ross a 2012 Olympian. Simone performed flawlessly and used skills with a high level of difficulty. She won gold in the all around and won silver in bars, beam, floor, and vault. This event qualified Biles to be able complete for all four events finals at the Olympics in Rio. The last American to qualify to compete in all four events was Shannon Miller in 1991. Biles performance at the 2016 Olympics games has ranked her among the best gymnasts of all time.
Simone Biles plans to compete at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but she plans take some time off to rest. However, she will not rest for too long, she has big plans to get in the gym and start training and planning her routines for her next world competition.
Michael Phelps career Olympian
By Sam Hurlburt
Champion swimmer and most decorated Olympian of all time, Michael Phelps, announced his retirement earlier this year after winning his 23rd Olympic medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Phelps told the sports community he would retire from professional swimming in permanently after the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, but he returned to Rio. It sounds like he has “retired in the past,” this time seems like he seriously means it. He finally achieved his goal of 20 medals, and is getting old. He turned 31 in June, and most swimmers retire before they turn 30.
During this Olympiad, Michael and fellow South African swimmer Chad Le Clos had a very fierce rivalry. This started when Chad beat Phelps at the 2012 Olympics in the 200 meter butterfly. This was a huge upset, as a newcomer to the Olympics beat arguably the greatest Olympian of all time in his specialty event.
Before the 100 butterfly this year, Chad was shown on TV boxing in front of Phelps. He was trying to throw him off guard and get him off his game. This caused Phelps to give him the now famous “Phelps face,” which has since become an internet phenomenon. Soon after Michael Phelps won a gold medal in the 100 fly. Le Clos did not medal at all, and he came in fourth place.
Satisfyingly enough, Michael Phelps’ last race, the 400m medley relay, was an Olympic record. Also in the race were Nathan Adrian, Cody Miller, and Ryan Murphy. Although the US was the clear favorite, they still had some competition.
In the first leg of the relay, backstroke, Ryan Murphy set the world record, beating out Aaron Peirsol’s 2009 record.
Our main competition in the event was the UK. At one point, the UK gained first place. Adam Peaty, one of the best breaststrokers of today’s time, gained a slight lead on Cody Miller, the US’ breaststroker, who has a much more limited Olympic experience. The US then gained back the lead by quite a bit after Michael Phelps swam the butterfly leg. Nathan Adrian secured the lead with the final leg of the race, the freestyle leg.
This was also Phelps’ first Olympics with his son, Boomer, who was born in early May of 2016. The cameras often flipped to Boomer when they were talking about Michael.
Although he retired, many people, including his wife, think that he will probably make a comeback at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, although he denies this. Whenever asked about another comeback, he says that he will not.
Although he is now officially retired, he said that he will be an assistant coach at the University of Arizona, where Bob Bowman, his lifelong swimming coach, is. He claimed that he still wants to be near a pool, even if he is not swimming or competing in it. Phelps will probably be coaching at the school for a long time, and will most likely be promoted to full time coach soon.
Champion swimmer and most decorated Olympian of all time, Michael Phelps, announced his retirement earlier this year after winning his 23rd Olympic medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Phelps told the sports community he would retire from professional swimming in permanently after the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, but he returned to Rio. It sounds like he has “retired in the past,” this time seems like he seriously means it. He finally achieved his goal of 20 medals, and is getting old. He turned 31 in June, and most swimmers retire before they turn 30.
During this Olympiad, Michael and fellow South African swimmer Chad Le Clos had a very fierce rivalry. This started when Chad beat Phelps at the 2012 Olympics in the 200 meter butterfly. This was a huge upset, as a newcomer to the Olympics beat arguably the greatest Olympian of all time in his specialty event.
Before the 100 butterfly this year, Chad was shown on TV boxing in front of Phelps. He was trying to throw him off guard and get him off his game. This caused Phelps to give him the now famous “Phelps face,” which has since become an internet phenomenon. Soon after Michael Phelps won a gold medal in the 100 fly. Le Clos did not medal at all, and he came in fourth place.
Satisfyingly enough, Michael Phelps’ last race, the 400m medley relay, was an Olympic record. Also in the race were Nathan Adrian, Cody Miller, and Ryan Murphy. Although the US was the clear favorite, they still had some competition.
In the first leg of the relay, backstroke, Ryan Murphy set the world record, beating out Aaron Peirsol’s 2009 record.
Our main competition in the event was the UK. At one point, the UK gained first place. Adam Peaty, one of the best breaststrokers of today’s time, gained a slight lead on Cody Miller, the US’ breaststroker, who has a much more limited Olympic experience. The US then gained back the lead by quite a bit after Michael Phelps swam the butterfly leg. Nathan Adrian secured the lead with the final leg of the race, the freestyle leg.
This was also Phelps’ first Olympics with his son, Boomer, who was born in early May of 2016. The cameras often flipped to Boomer when they were talking about Michael.
Although he retired, many people, including his wife, think that he will probably make a comeback at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, although he denies this. Whenever asked about another comeback, he says that he will not.
Although he is now officially retired, he said that he will be an assistant coach at the University of Arizona, where Bob Bowman, his lifelong swimming coach, is. He claimed that he still wants to be near a pool, even if he is not swimming or competing in it. Phelps will probably be coaching at the school for a long time, and will most likely be promoted to full time coach soon.
Everything you need to know about the paralympics
By Kaliey Lewia
The Paralympics are a major international sporting event and are the equivalent of the Olympics for those who are physically disabled. Dr. Guttmann organized the first ever albeit, unofficial, competition for athletes in wheelchairs during the 1948 Summer Games in London. He named the games for the disabled the ‘Stoke Mandeville Games.’ The first ever official Paralympics games took place in Rome, 1960, was the first summer game and had 400 athletes from 23 different countries.
Ever since the 1960 games the Paralympics have been held the same year and place as the Olympics, though not too many disabled athletes attended until the International Paralympics Committee (who properly run the events) was properly founded on September 22nd, 1089 This year it was held in Rio, Brazil, same as the Olympics. They began on September 7th and ended on the 18th.
In this year's Paralympics there were 159 countries that sent athletes to participate. Just some of these countries include America, Great Britain, China, Australia, and Canada. There were 4,316 disabled athletes in total, 2,647 men and 1,669 women. For world records 220 were broken and for Paralympics records exclusively 432 were broken. There were a total of 2.15 million spectators in total as well!
Some of the 23 sports in the Summer Games included archery, wheelchair rugby, wheelchair tennis, wheelchair basketball and swimming. There were new sports just introduced as well- canoe and triathlon. With a total of 528 medal events in all 23 sports, China won the most medals at the astounding number of 239, made up of 107 gold, 81 silver and 51 bronze. This year marked the largest number of countries winning at least one medal in Paralympics' history, with 83 countries winning at least one medal overall. The next Summer Paralympics will take place in 2020 in Tokyo, Japan and the next Winter Paralympics will take place in 2018 in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
The Paralympics are a major international sporting event and are the equivalent of the Olympics for those who are physically disabled. Dr. Guttmann organized the first ever albeit, unofficial, competition for athletes in wheelchairs during the 1948 Summer Games in London. He named the games for the disabled the ‘Stoke Mandeville Games.’ The first ever official Paralympics games took place in Rome, 1960, was the first summer game and had 400 athletes from 23 different countries.
Ever since the 1960 games the Paralympics have been held the same year and place as the Olympics, though not too many disabled athletes attended until the International Paralympics Committee (who properly run the events) was properly founded on September 22nd, 1089 This year it was held in Rio, Brazil, same as the Olympics. They began on September 7th and ended on the 18th.
In this year's Paralympics there were 159 countries that sent athletes to participate. Just some of these countries include America, Great Britain, China, Australia, and Canada. There were 4,316 disabled athletes in total, 2,647 men and 1,669 women. For world records 220 were broken and for Paralympics records exclusively 432 were broken. There were a total of 2.15 million spectators in total as well!
Some of the 23 sports in the Summer Games included archery, wheelchair rugby, wheelchair tennis, wheelchair basketball and swimming. There were new sports just introduced as well- canoe and triathlon. With a total of 528 medal events in all 23 sports, China won the most medals at the astounding number of 239, made up of 107 gold, 81 silver and 51 bronze. This year marked the largest number of countries winning at least one medal in Paralympics' history, with 83 countries winning at least one medal overall. The next Summer Paralympics will take place in 2020 in Tokyo, Japan and the next Winter Paralympics will take place in 2018 in Pyeongchang, South Korea.