A/N: Will probably have plenty more coming tonight!
|ravioliandisles|
Idk, JJ's not been great on beam this year. First that mistake on beam at the Classic, on a skill she's probably been doing since she was 10, then that fuck up in the team finals. She's lucky they have Simone, or that mistake might have cost them gold. Will be interesting to see if Marta keeps relying on her so-called 'beam queen'
|catalinaponors|
Excuse me? They won by seven points LMAO, her mistake was like half a point at most.
|ravioliandisles|
Everyone raves and raves about JJ, but like... she's not that great IMO? She's been a hot mess all year, Marta should've moved on once the broken leg happened. All we hear about is her five medals from London... should've been three
|jareaumanar|
SHUT YO DAMN MOUTH
|froggy-style|
Blah blah blah, Jennifer Jareau's so great... nah. She's good on beam. Forgettable everywhere else
Slamming her laptop shut, JJ dropped her head down to her arms in defeat.
Morning training was over, and so for the few hours they had before the all-around final, the girls were enjoying some downtime in one of the conference rooms of their hotel. With Simone chilling out to music beside her, JJ had decided to check her social media, which had led to the discovery of some less than nice Tumblr posts.
"You alright JJ?"
Sitting up at the sound of her coach's voice, she was suddenly overwhelmed by hot tears spilling down her cheeks. Without hesitating, Nick immediately got JJ to her feet and guided her out of the conference room towards a little alcove with two armchairs and a small table in it, leaving a bewildered Simone to wonder what on earth had just happened.
Slowly sitting down in one of the chairs, JJ accepted the tissues Nick held out to her, wiping her eyes and then her nose as Nick sat down across from her.
"You ok?" he asked softly.
JJ nodded, lifting her gaze to meet her coach's as she clasped her hands together beneath her chin.
"I just... saw some comments... on Tumblr"
"What did they say?" Nick said calmly.
"That I'm a hot mess... that my mistake on beam in team finals was a fuck up that could've cost us the gold if we didn't have Simone, and that Marta should've stopped having any faith in me after I broke my leg. And... that I should have only had three medals in London"
Nick shook his head. "JJ, I know I'm biased because I'm your coach, but none of that is true. Yeah, you've been a little nervy in competition since your injury, but I wouldn't go as far to say you're a hot mess. If you'd fallen on every event both nights of nationals, maybe. But as it is, you only had a mistake on beam at the Classic and a few iffy moments at nationals. No-one can expect you to be perfect all the time. You're a fighter, you never give up on anything, and that's why Marta has faith in you, because you are good at what you do and you always pull through when she needs it. And as for the team finals... yes you made a mistake, but you saved it, you didn't fall. I don't know what rock that person is living under, but Simone didn't put you guys seven points ahead all on her own. That was a cumulative effort from all six of you. Simone didn't even compete all four events," Nick explained. "And yes, you should have five medals from London. You hit when it counted and you were rewarded for that. Whoever said that is probably just bitter that you beat someone they liked"
Swallowing thickly, JJ nodded.
"What I'm trying to get to you, JJ, is that for every nasty comment someone makes on social media, there will be ten others that are lovely. People are bitter and cruel, and it's easy for them to talk shit about people like you behind the safety of their computer screen. I think you're just tired and a little overwhelmed by everything right now. Don't let it get to you, ok? Use it as fuel to go out there and prove them wrong, and in the meantime? Maybe stay off Tumblr"
Looking up, JJ noticed Nick's grin, and managed a weak smile of her own.
"You got this, ok? No melting down on me, you're tougher than that," Nick said warmly as they both got to their feet again.
Taking a deep breath, JJ nodded.
"I've got this"
"Now we've got the first of the two Americans to take their attempt at the uneven bars"
Dressed in a dazzling hot pink, both Simone and JJ had vaulted their way to the top of the leaderboard in the first rotation. Simone had made no mention of the morning's upset, and JJ had done her absolute best to put it out of her mind and focus on the final ahead of her.
Having qualified in second, she would be going first on the uneven bars. As she stood waiting for her green light, she focused on every skill she was competing, visualising the routine all the way through to a stuck dismount.
Looking up, she saw the red light turn to green, and immediately presented to the judges.
Adjusting her grips one last time, she took a deep breath, before jumping into her kip and beginning the routine.
Her first skills, which were some simpler circles and turns on the low bar, felt strong. Keeping her body tight and clean, she transitioned to the high bar, continuing straight up into a handstand.
Swinging down, she arched her body through the swing, kicking up near the top and releasing the bar as she flew back into her Tkatchev.
She was a little far away when she caught the bar, but sure that she had it, she swung down again, her muscles already prepping for the next skill.
But halfway down, she felt the dowels in her grips slip back over the bar, and before she knew it, she'd slipped from the apparatus and was lying on her back on the mat, looking up at the ceiling.
"Oh boy... this is not good for Jennifer Jareau, that's a full point off just for a fall"
"That is going to take her out of gold medal contention, unless both Larisa Iordache and Simone Biles have falls as well"
Biting her lip to keep her resolve, she pulled herself up and headed over to the chalk bucket.
"Come on JJ, you got it!" she heard Simone call from the sidelines.
"Push it out of your head," she heard Nick say as he walked up to her. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," JJ said shortly, dusting the excess chalk from her grips before walking back over to the bars.
"Yeah JJ, let's go!" Will called out encouragingly from up in the stands. The three of them watching her had been on the edge of their seats, and had watched in defeat as she slipped from the bars. It had felt like they were watching in slow motion, with nothing they could do or say to stop it.
Jumping back up, JJ wasted no time in completing her routine. The rest of it was completely on, so typically gorgeous, but the damage was done. After saluting the judges, she walked from the podium, filled with frustration and doubt. Why did she have to keep making stupid mistakes? She'd been getting better on bars, and now she'd once again fallen.
"Don't beat yourself up," Nick said knowingly as he met her at the bottom of the stairs. "You had a grip on the bar, unfortunately, the dowels weren't all the way around, ok? You did the best you could do"
"I still fell," she said, her voice a little harsher than she'd intended to sound.
"You fell, but you finished it and minimised the deductions. You've got your two best events coming up, so don't let it rattle you. The competition isn't over," Nick said encouragingly.
Nodding slightly, JJ walked back over to her bag, getting a quick hug from Simone, who was on her way up to do her routine. Feeling just a little defeated, she sat down and started removing her grips. She forced herself to think about beam, in an attempt to ignore the pit of frustration that was now lingering in the bottom of her stomach.
By the time beam had come around, JJ had lightened up considerably. She had taken the chance to showcase her ability on the apparatus, nailing a stellar routine that, if she repeated in the finals, would have her as world champion for the third consecutive time. Dismounting with a huge smile, she had beamed the entire time following her routine, the frustration from bars disappearing in a flash.
Floor had gone just as well as beam, with the crowd enjoying her upbeat routine and clapping along as she danced and smiled her way through her final exercise of the day. She had scored a solid 14.800, but it wasn't enough to put her ahead of the Romanian, Larisa Iordache, who was currently holding the lead, with only Simone left to go. However, JJ was guaranteed a medal, and she was happy with that; she had put aside the disappointment from bars and fought her way back onto the podium.
Simone's electric routine once again had the crowd cheering and clapping along, and by the time she had landed her final tumbling pass, it was very clear that yet again, she was the world all-around champion. And JJ couldn't have been prouder of her young teammate. She was forging ahead of the pack at an astounding rate, something which JJ knew was a privilege to witness.
She was sure that the great things Simone Biles was destined to do hadn't even begun yet.
Medals around their necks, and flowers in hand, the three gymnasts stood proudly on the podium as the three flags were raised to the sound of the anthem of the United States. She had spotted her parents and Will directly opposite the podium, waving to them as she'd stepped up to receive her bronze medal. All three of them looked thrilled, and it did wonders for her confidence; it wasn't gold, but she'd made her family proud. That was more than enough.
As the anthem ended, they turned back to the front of the podium. Seeing the photographers, JJ turned towards Simone and Larisa to see what they wanted to do for photos, but the two were already in conversation. JJ watched as Larisa pointed at Simone's flowers.
"Simone... look, there's a bee," she heard Larisa say as Simone frowned and looked down at her bouqet. The event announcer was drowning out most of the sound as he talked about how the top eight finishers would receive invites to the World Cup series.
And then the tiniest of the three let out a mighty scream.
"THERE'S A BEE!" she shrieked, shaking her flowers wildly and ducking down towards JJ as the bee flew towards her head. JJ and Larisa were both laughing, with JJ taking a step back so as not to be knocked over by her teammate. In an attempt to escape, Simone leapt off the podium, running wildly back and forth behind it before throwing her flowers to the ground. With tears of laughter in her eyes, JJ stepped back onto the floor momentarily, before resuming her place on the podium.
"Oh my god, Simone!" she laughed. JJ had tears of laughter in her eyes as Simone grabbed her flowers and quickly leapt back up to the podium, before ducking in fright and running behind Larisa as the bee flew back towards her. It quickly changed directions, flying towards JJ, who held out her flowers in the hopes it would land on them. When it did, she carefully sat the bouquet down on her podium before joining Larisa and Simone at the top for photos.
When they all looked at each other, they started to laugh.
JJ felt back to her old self. And as was quite common... it had only taken some antics from Simone to cheer her up.