Simone Biles devastates with joy, plus new NFL kickoff rules debut

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Good morning! I hope your food has both texture and taste today. Related: Should we all make chocolate muffins this weekend?

Soul-Crushing Smiles: Yep, we’re talking about Biles again

So I have a theory: The most devastating look in all of sports is when a gymnast nails their first pass during their floor routine and flashes a knowing smile so big it’s almost a laugh.

Consider that moment from both Simone Biles and Suni Lee’s last rotations in the Olympic all-around final yesterday:

biles lee 1

If you’re one of their competitors and see that, you probably think, “I’m so cooked.” And everyone other than Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade absolutely was.

Biles, so far ahead that she needed only a mere mortal’s score in order to take her sixth Olympic gold, instead put up an other-worldly 15.066. But it was Lee, the defending champion, who was actually at risk of missing the podium and needed to deliver big. She ended up with a triumphant bronze.

Overall, the outing wasn’t a total walk in the park to gold for Biles, as she had a relatively disastrous bars routine.
But she rebounded on beam, the third of four rotations, setting up yet another coronation.
A tip of The Pulse’s cap, too, to silver medalist Andrade. Even after three ACL tears, she’s a legit enough threat that Biles upped her vault’s difficulty to ensure separation.

We’ve had Olympic memes with similar connotations before, like Phelps Face (remember 2016? Whew.). But we could use a refresh. So now, just know that if someone sends you this …

Jack Gruber / Getty Images

… it means they expect to be wearing a diamond-encrusted 🐐 necklace on the podium of life within minutes. I hope you find a use for it.

News to Know

Griner on detainees’ release
After the U.S. women’s basketball team’s win over Belgium, center Brittney Griner — who spent much of 2022 detained by Russia — reacted to the news that Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan have returned home in another prisoner swap. “It’s a great day,” Griner said. “I am head over heels happy for the families right now. … Like this is a big win, huge win.”

Busy day in Olympic tennis
Some significant results yesterday at Roland Garros: Women’s world No. 1 Iga Swiatek, a four-time French Open champion, fell to China’s Zheng Qinwen in the semifinals, and Andy Murray’s tennis career ended with a loss in doubles. (He never even liked tennis, at least!) Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic’s knee issues flared up during his quarterfinal win, and he sounds seriously concerned that he re-injured his meniscus.

More news

It was a bad day for meniscuses around the world, as Mike Trout also said he will miss the rest of the MLB season because of a second tear in his left knee. Brutal.
A federal judge overturned the verdict in the class-action lawsuit against the NFL filed on behalf of “Sunday Ticket” subscribers. The jury had awarded $4.7 billion in damages to residential subscribers.
The French, German and Zambian national women’s football teams denied using drones to spy on opponents after Canada coach Bev Priestman said the top-10 teams all do it.
Former Michigan State football coach Mel Tucker is suing the university and school leaders, alleging “unlawful termination” after being fired last September amid sexual harassment allegations.

Medal Games: Is Team USA lagging behind?

There are two primary schools of thought when it comes to the Olympic medal count: ranking based on total medals, or ranking based on the number of golds (with silvers and bronzes as tiebreakers).

Using the first method, the U.S. is firmly in front already. The second? Welp — the margin is small for now, but it paints a different picture. Take a look:

Total medals won vs. gold medals

Rank by total medals	Number	Rank by gold medals	Number
United States	37	China	11
France	27	United States	9
China	24	France	8
Britain	20	Australia	8
Australia	18	Japan	8

The New York Times has a fascinating, interactive piece that explores this phenomenon further. But the question, for our purpose, is this: Why is the U.S. behind in the gold count? Nicole Auerbach points us to the pool.

Team USA, which has racked up the most swimming medals in every Olympics from 1992 onward, has earned 20 medals in the pool so far — but most aren’t golden:

The Americans have won four golds, 10 silvers and six bronzes.
Australia only has 11 medals, but five are gold.

A few second-place finishes have come in events the U.S. had a strong shot to win, but in general, there have been a fair number of disappointing swims (as well as medals missed by the smallest of margins). There are more opportunities to come, though.

But the bigger issue, as Auerbach writes, is that this current iteration of Team USA just isn’t the best in many events. We became accustomed to dominance in the days of Phelps, Lochte and Co. Now, even Katie Ledecky — as much as it pains me to say — isn’t dominating the breadth of events she once was.

As is the case in many sports right now, the world is just getting better. And that’s OK.

But there was still plenty of medal action yesterday. Quick highlights:

Debuts: Our first look at the NFL’s new kickoffs

Though last night’s Hall of Fame Game ended early because of a thunderstorm, those who tuned in got plenty of chances to check out the NFL’s new kickoff rule. The Bears led the Texans 21-17 when the game was called off toward the end of the third quarter.

The kickoffs were definitely the main attraction, but at the same time, they feel like the sort of thing that’ll keep being explained all the way through the Super Bowl.

The rules are spelled out here, and the first time they were put into action, they looked like this:

For the first time… the Dynamic Kickoff 🙌

📺: @ProFootballHOF Game on ESPN/ABC
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/wga0LmuvtH

— NFL (@NFL) August 2, 2024

Thoughts?

Otherwise, the highlight of the night was … uh … Bears third-stringer Brett Rypien passing for 166 yards and three touchdowns. Cool.

Olympics HQ

All times Eastern

Our most interesting events (at a decent hour) for Day 7:

Track: men’s 10,000 meters, 3:20 p.m. on Peacock
Swimming: men’s and women’s finals, 2:30 p.m. on NBC and Peacock
Men’s soccer quarterfinals: U.S.-Morocco and Argentina-France, 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Telemundo and Peacock

Other medals decided today: archery, badminton, cycling, diving, equestrian, fencing, judo, rowing, sailing, shooting, tennis, trampoline.

Pulse Picks

Shams has an intriguing update on UConn’s Paige Bueckers, who signed an NIL deal with the new Unrivaled three-on-three league. She’s expected to join a team after her first WNBA season.

Nia Akins found her voice in music, and it helped her find confidence on the track, Marcus Thompson writes. Now, she’s an 800-meter medal hopeful in the Olympics.

Meet South Korean pistol shooter Kim Yeji, the Paris Olympics’ coolest athlete.

Distance swimming legend Janet Evans never got to race the 1500 in the Olympics, as it wasn’t added for women until Tokyo. That disappointment still seems to fuel her.

What happens when you load a team with more superstars than can reasonably play in a single game? Someone gets humbled, as NBA stars are experiencing in Paris.

Jayson Stark has a smart, useful piece on what we learned from the MLB trade deadline.

Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: The reminder of McKayla Maroney’s meme. Not impressed.

Most-read on the website yesterday: Katie Strang and Dan Robson’s investigation into why hockey broadcaster Jeff Marek was pulled off the air.

Top podcast in The Athletic network: Dianna Russini and Chase Daniel had Raiders general manager Tom Telesco on the latest episode of Scoop City.

(Top photo: Jack Gruber / USA Today)

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Simone Biles devastates with joy, plus new NFL kickoff rules debut