Lack of viewers to take second place within the US girls’s gymnastics staff’s Olympic efficiency: Dominique Dawes

Three-time Olympian Dominique Dawes told CNBC that a lack of audience led the U.S. gymnastics team to finish second in Sunday’s qualifiers behind the Russian Olympic Committee team.

“You feel a little lost because there isn’t an audience to feed on that adrenaline,” said Dawes, the first African American to win an individual Olympic medal in artistic gymnastics. “At none of my three Olympic Games I could not imagine that the audience would not ‘Go USA!’ sings. or at least just feeds on their energy, so it has to be tough. ”

Olympic Games organizers banned spectators from the Tokyo Games after Japan declared a state of emergency amid rising Covid-19 cases in the country.

The Russian women’s gymnastics team scored a high of 171,629, more than a full point ahead of the U.S. women’s team of 170,562. However, Dawes told The News with Shepard Smith that Team USA’s performance in second place isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

“I think it’s great that they’re in second place, honestly, that makes it a competition,” said Dawes.

While Olympic champion Simone Biles received the highest total score of all participating gymnasts and qualified for every single event, she wrote on Instagram about the massive pressure she felt during the Tokyo Games.

“It wasn’t an easy day or my best day, but I got through it,” she wrote. “I really feel at times that I am carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders. I know I take it away and make it look like the pressure isn’t affecting me, but damn it is hard sometimes, hahaha! ”Galle wrote. “Olympia is not a joke! BUT I’m glad my family could be with me virtually,” she said. “You mean the world to me!”

Dawes, who won team gold in the “Magnificent Seven” of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, said she understands the pressure Biles is feeling.

“I felt that when I led to the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia,” said Dawes. “We were expected to win gold, make history, be the first women’s team to ever do this and I knew, as one of the leaders of that team, that my results were really important so I can feel what she feels I hope she knows we stand behind her every step of the way, and whatever the result, we love her and she is a positive force in gymnastics. “