Thirteen years after he competed at the Olympic games, Henry Cejudo found himself going head-to-head with another gold medalist.
The wrestling champion and former two-division UFC titleholder interviewed 1996 Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast Dominique Moceanu this week via Instagram to engage in a cordial debate about the Simone Biles controversy that has become one of the major talking points of this year’s Tokyo Olympics.
Biles, the most decorated gymnast in the history of the sport, withdrew from the team portion of the Tokyo Olympics citing mental health issues. She went on to participate in only one individual event, the balance beam, in which she added a bronze medal to her collection that includes four Olympic golds. Her decision not to compete has polarized opinions, with some, including all-time great swimming champion Michael Phelps, supporting Biles and praising her for putting her health first, and others accusing her of quitting.
Though Cejudo is a fan of Biles, he recently took to Twitter to criticize her withdrawal, which led to him inviting Moceanu to speak to about the topic. Moceanu was part of the 1996 USA Gymnastic team in Atlanta that won gold and she has publicly supported Biles while sharing some of her own difficulties with competition including a clip of a scary fall.
I was 14 y/o w/ a tibial stress fracture, left alone w/ no cervical spine exam after this fall. I competed in the Olympic floor final minutes later. @Simone_Biles decision demonstrates that we have a say in our own health—“a say” I NEVER felt I had as an Olympian. pic.twitter.com/LVdghdAh1g
Supporters of Biles have pointed to the traumas that she and hundreds of other young gymnasts have had to endure, notably the USA Gymnastics-Dr. Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal that dates back to to the late 1990s, as well as the immense pressure she has dealt with as the face of USA Gymnastics and the high chance of injury she risked had she chosen to compete with her mental faculties compromised.
Moceanu refrained from pointing to Biles’ current situation as having been specifically affected by Nassar’s crimes, but she did elaborate on why she feels Biles made the right call.
“I don’t want to speak for her on [the abuse] because that’s a very personal topic,” Moceanu said. “It’s very, very intimate and it’s very personal. So I don’t want to speak for her, that’s something for her to speak up on, but I can tell of the history because I’ve been an advocate for athlete safety for so long and Henry, people ignored it. Girls were being molested in our sport. People were getting hurt. There were brutal injuries. We were never allowed to say anything. I collapsed in the gym when I was 14 years old and my coach just grabbed me by my neck, ‘Go call your parents, maybe your leg’s broken.’ Just disregard for human beings.
“We were little girls. Young women who could never have a voice in our health and well-being. It was always placed last. Now I’m sure there’s a part of that where Simone has that history and trauma that’s now playing into this Olympic cycle saying, ‘Look, there’s something going on that doesn’t feel right.’ Now when you feel that you have to speak up and say, ‘You know what? I need to get this handled.’ There was video that showed you that she was not oriented in the air, she was falling on her back and she showed it on Instagram so anybody who was doubting that she had an issue, there it is, front and center, you can see it. And I know what that feels like because I deal with athletes all the time that go through mental blocks and it’s a very severe and almost paralyzing fear.”
Experts have pointed to Biles suffering from a phenomenon called “the twisties,” in which a gymnast risks losing their ability to control themselves in the air, potentially leading to severe injury (Biles herself acknowledged that this was a concern).
Cejudo suggested that the media and fans played a role in building Biles up to a standard that she may have struggled to match and Moceanu agreed that pressure can contribute to the uncertainty when competing. However, Cejudo wondered if this was something Biles could have overcome.
“But wouldn’t you say it starts with the mind?” Cejudo said. “It starts with the mind and it ends with the mind.”
“The mind is always a part of the sport and that’s why you have to have a handle on it when you’re in a competition setting,” Moceanu said. “You’re on hard mats. Any wrong twist or opening in the air can lead to a catastrophic injury that could be jeopardizing or put you in a wheelchair. That’s the severity of it. You have to remember that all of it coupled in, it ended up happening on the grandest stage, but you have to also know that she has dealt with this type of issue in practice before. This is not something new. You’re just seeing it now on the largest scale of them all, the global scale of the Olympics. You know how magnifying it is, especially in our sport. Every four years people tune in to watch the women’s Olympic games, the women’s gymnastics portion, one of the most popular events. Simone was the ‘it girl’ for this Olympics.
“So to say that she can’t handle pressure is not really appropriate because it’s coupled with other things. You’re conflating two issues, the GOAT issue and then the twisties and the anxieties and the pressure, those are different things and you can’t conflate the two issues because they’re two separate issues. Let the fans, let the media talk about the GOAT. We’re not really in the discussion of that. We’re in the discussion of had Simone not spoken up for her well-being when for so many years her sports been plagued with abuses, then she wouldn’t be doing herself a service. She was smart enough to say, ‘Hey, something went wrong on the first event, I need to step back, let the team do their job,’ and she was the best cheerleader for them. Did you ever see her not being awesome to her teammates and cheering them on? She just showed a lot of character by doing that. Now Team USA had to step up, there’s no doubt, but that’s what you do in a team setting. You put yourself in a situation where it’s the smartest and best decision for safety and I have to commend that.”
Cejudo recalled his own experience not just at the 2008 Beijing Olympics where at the age of 21 he became the youngest American ever to win gold in wrestling (a record later broken by a 20-year-old Kyle Snyder in 2016) but at the Olympic Trials leading up to that event. After qualifying for the Olympics, Cejudo said coach Terry Brands grabbed him by the neck and “slaps the crap out of me” twice, calling it “the best thing someone could have did to me because it brought me back down to Earth that this job still wasn’t done.”
“What I’m saying is I hope Simone has a great support system because at times we do need a kick in the arse, you know that,” Cejudo clarified. “And I just feel like it was one of those situations where it’s like, ‘Simone, you are so good. You are so good. Listen to your ability.’ This is normal, yes, you are carrying the Olympic games, I understand the whole mental stuff that people are trying to portray but I feel like it was just a little more pressure and it was just a little too much.’”
Moceanu countered by saying that she herself was often driven by fear of her coaches, which isn’t something she believes athletes should be motivated by. She also balked at the suggestion that Biles wilted under pressure, given Biles’ extraordinary success in her career thus far.
“Simone didn’t give up,” Moceanu said. “The way you’re depicting this is saying, ‘Oh, Simone just gave up halfway through the competition on her team and then expected everyone to carry the weight.’ That’s kind of what you’re saying, ‘Hey, this is the Olympics. Push through.’ If it was something different than this kind of a block mentally, sure she could have pushed through and she did. She showed it in the balance beam finals. She showed that she came back, she worked through whatever was going on, and she got a hold of it. She got a lighter dismount on her beam and she was able to collect her seventh Olympic medal, more than you and me. And she has way more worlds and Olympic medals than anybody. So when you combine all that she’s done in the sport—She even competed with passing kidney stones at the last world championships. She’s gone through her fair share of adversity is what I’m trying to say.
“This is not about she gave up, because I think that’s the misconception that maybe your perspective is, ‘We’re gritty, we’ve got to tough it out.’ And I get it, as a fighter and as a wrestler you do that. I have a lot of grit, trust me, I’m battle-tested. I have my battle wounds and so I know how this mentality is. But for so long it’s been a dangerous fine line in our sport because it’s been coupled with abuse of little girls, physically, emotionally, mentally. So the pendulum had to swing because it led to this whole Larry Nassar abuse scandal with USA Gymnastics and beyond. The pendulum had to swing a little bit all the way to the other side to try to have a voice now for our athletes and make sure that if something is not right, you are speaking up as you would like your daughter to speak up when it comes to her safety.”
By the end of Cejudo’s conversation with Moceanu, he didn’t sound completely convinced that Biles did the right thing, but he echoed the sentiments of fellow retired UFC champion Daniel Cormier in noting that it’s on Biles to make peace with her decision when it’s all said and done.
“At the end of the day you are right because at the end of the day the only person that really knows what happened, what’s going on, is ultimately her,” Cejudo said. “… You’re right, she doesn’t have to prove anything to nobody, I just didn’t like the situation or what happened or what was taking place.”
“I get it, the thing is that Simone does some special stuff in gymnastics,” Cejudo continued. “I just feel like she could have pushed the bar so high that nobody would have touched it. That’s all I wanted to see. The situation, she knows it. She’s gonna have to live with it. If she’s okay with it, then I’m cool with it too.”
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LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A top official of the Pakistan Cricket Board declined Friday to confirm media reports that India has decided against playing any games in host Pakistan during next year’s Champions Trophy.
“My view is if there’s any problems, they (India) should tell us in writing,” PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi told reporters in Lahore. “I’ll share that with the media as well as with the government as soon as I get such a letter.”
Indian media reported Friday that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has communicated its concerns to all the Champions Trophy stakeholders, including the PCB, over the Feb. 19-March 9 tournament and would not play in arch-rival Pakistan.
The Times of India said that “Dubai is a strong candidate to host the fixtures involving the Men in Blue” for the 50-over tournament.
Such a solution would see Pakistan having to travel to a neutral venue to play India in a group match, with another potential meeting later in the tournament if both teams advanced from their group. The final is scheduled for March 9 in Pakistan with the specific venue not yet decided.
“Our stance is clear,” Naqvi said. “They need to give us in writing any objections they may have. Until now, no discussion of the hybrid model has happened, nor are we prepared to accept one.”
Political tensions have stopped bilateral cricket between the two nations since 2008 and they have competed in only multi-nation tournaments, including ICC World Cups.
“Cricket should be free of politics,” Naqvi said. “Any sport should not be entangled with politics. Our preparations for the Champions Trophy will continue unabated, and this will be a successful event.”
The PCB has already spent millions of dollars on the upgrade of stadiums in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi which are due to host 15 Champions Trophy games. Naqvi hoped all the three stadiums will be ready over the next two months.
“Almost every country wants the Champions Trophy to be played here (in Pakistan),” Naqvi said. “I don’t think anyone should make this a political matter, and I don’t expect they will. I expect the tournament will be held at the home of the official hosts.”
Eight countries – Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Afghanistan – are due to compete in the tournament, the schedule of which is yet to be announced by the International Cricket Council.
“Normally the ICC announces the schedule of any major tournament 100 days before the event, and I hope they will announce it very soon,” Naqvi said.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Ottawa‘s Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand are through to the doubles final at the WTA Finals after a 7-6 (7), 6-1 victory over Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States and Australia’s Ellen Perez in semifinal action Friday.
Dabrowski and Routliffe won a hard-fought first set against serve when Routliffe’s quick reaction at the net to defend a Perez shot gave the duo set point, causing Perez to throw down her racket in frustration.
The second seeds then cruised through the second set, winning match point on serve when Melichar-Martinez couldn’t handle Routliffe’s shot.
The showdown was a rematch of last year’s semifinal, which Melichar-Martinez and Perez won in a super tiebreak.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will face the winner of a match between Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend, and Hao-Ching Chan and Veronika Kudermetova in the final on Saturday.
Dabrowski is aiming to become the first Canadian to win a WTA Finals title.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
Inter Milan winger Tajon Buchanan, recovered from a broken leg suffered in training at this summer’s Copa America, is back in Jesse Marsch’s Canada squad for the CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinal against Suriname.
The 25-year-old from Brampton, Ont., underwent surgery July 3 to repair a fractured tibia in Texas.
Canada, ranked 35th in the world, plays No. 136 Suriname on Nov. 15 in Paramaribo. The second leg of the aggregate series is four days later at Toronto’s BMO Field.
There is also a return for veteran winger Junior Hoilett, who last played for Canada in June in a 4-0 loss to the Netherlands in Marsch’s debut at the Canadian helm. The 34-year-old from Brampton, now with Scotland’s Hibernian, has 15 goals in 63 senior appearances for Canada.
Midfielder Ismael Kone, recovered from an ankle injury sustained on club duty with France’s Marseille, also returns. He missed Canada’s last three matches since the fourth-place Copa America loss to Uruguay in July.
But Canada will be without centre back Derek Cornelius, who exited Marseille’s win Sunday over Nantes on a stretcher after suffering an apparent rib injury.
The Canadian men will prepare for Suriname next week at a camp in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
“We are looking forward to getting the group together again with the mindset that there is a trophy on the line,” Marsch said in a statement. “We want to end 2024 the right way with two excellent performances against a competitive Suriname squad and continue building on our tremendous growth this past summer.”
The quarterfinal winners advance to the Nations League Finals at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., with the two semifinals scheduled for March 20 and the final and third-place playoff March 23, and qualify for the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Thirteen of the 23 players on the Canadian roster are 25 or younger, with 19-year-old defender Jamie Knight-Lebel, currently playing for England’s Crewe Alexandra on loan from Bristol City, the youngest.
Bayern Munich star Alphonso Davies captains the side with Stephen Eustaquio, Jonathan Osorio, Richie Laryea, Alistair Johnston and Kamal Miller adding veteran support.
Jonathan David, Cyle Larin and Theo Bair are joined in attack by Minnesota United’s Tani Oluwaseyi.
Niko Sigur, a 21-year-old midfielder with Croatia’s Hadjuk Split, continues in the squad after making his debut in the September friendly against Mexico.
Suriname made it to the Nations League quarterfinals by finishing second to Costa Rica in Group A of the Nations League, ahead of No. 104 Guatemala, No. 161 Guyana and unranked Martinique and Guadeloupe.
“A good team,” Osorio said of Suriname. “These games are always tricky and they’re not easy at all … Suriname is a (former) Dutch colony and they’ll have Dutch players playing at high levels.”
“They won’t be someone we overlook at all,” added the Toronto FC captain, who has 81 Canada caps to his credit.
Located on the northeast coast of South America between Guyana and French Guiana, Suriname was granted independence in 1975 by the Netherlands.
Canada has faced Suriname twice before, both in World Cup qualifying play, winning 4-0 in suburban Chicago in June 2021 and 2-1 in Mexico City in October 1977.
The Canadian men, along with Mexico, the United States and Panama, received a bye into the final eight of the CONCACAF Nations League.
Canada, No. 2 in the CONCACAF rankings, drew Suriname as the best-placed runner-up from League A play.
Canada lost to Jamaica in last year’s Nations League quarterfinal, ousted on the away-goals rule after the series ended in a 4-4 draw. The Canadians lost 2-0 to the U.S. in the final of the 2022-23 tournament and finished fifth in 2019-20.
Canada defeated Panama 2-1 last time out, in an Oct. 15 friendly in Toronto.
Goalkeepers Maxime Crepeau and Jonathan Sirois, defenders Joel Waterman, Laryea and Miller and Osorio took part in a pre-camp this week in Toronto for North America-based players.
Canada Roster
Goalkeepers: Maxime Crepeau, Portland Timbers (MLS); Jonathan Sirois, CF Montreal (MLS); Dayne St. Clair, Minnesota United FC (MLS).
Defenders: Moise Bombito, OGC Nice (France); Alphonso Davies, Bayern Munich (Germany); Richie Laryea, Toronto FC (MLS); Alistair Johnston, Celtic (Scotland); Jamie Knight-Lebel. Crewe Alexandra, on loan from Bristol City (England); Kamal Miller, Portland Timbers (MLS); Joel Waterman, CF Montreal (MLS).
Midfielders: Ali Ahmed. Vancouver Whitecaps (MLS); Tajon Buchanan, Inter Milan (Italy); Mathieu Choiniere, Grasshopper Zurich (Switzerland); Stephen Eustaquio, FC Porto (Portugal); Junior Hoilett, Hibernian FC (Scotland); Ismael Kone, Olympique Marseille (France); Jonathan Osorio, Toronto FC (MLS); Jacob Shaffelburg, Nashville SC (MLS); Niko Sigur, Hadjuk Split (Croatia).
Forwards: Theo Bair, AJ Auxerre (France); Jonathan David, LOSC Lille (France); Cyle Larin, RCD Mallorca (Spain); Tani Oluwaseyi, Minnesota United (MLS).
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
