U.S. gymnast MyKayla Skinner was a mere spectator at the Tokyo Olympics days ago, believing her Olympic dreams were done after she failed to qualify for an individual event.
But on Sunday she became an improbable silver medal winner in the vault as a replacement for Simone Biles.
Here’s one of Skinner’s vaults that helped propel her to a 14.916 score. She was second to Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade (15.083), who won gold after getting a silver behind American Sunisa Lee in the all-around:
South Korea’s Yeo Seojeong (14.733) won bronze.
American Jade Carey struggled with an average of 12.416.
Skinner, who was an alternate on the 2016 Olympic team, learned Saturday that she would replace Simone Biles in the vault for the apparatus finals, and she dedicated her one last chance to the four-time gold medalist. Biles dropped out of the team, all-around and some individual events, including the vault, while wrestling with mental health concerns and disorientation on her acrobatics. “Doing this for us @simonebiles,” Skinner, 24, wrote on Instagram.
And now she’s doing a happy dance as a silver medalist.