Moors thrives, Chiles tumbles, Francis inspires in women's gymnastics qualifiers
It was an eventful opening day of women's gymnastics for the Bruins at the Olympics, but not for all the best reasons.
The first two gymnasts with UCLA ties to compete in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics were part of Subdivision 3 – Jordan Chiles for Team USA and Danusia Francis for Jamaica. Francis, who was with the Bruins from 2013-2016, tore her ACL in training prior to Sunday's competition but still went out there to make her Olympic dream come true.
With her left knee wrapped tight, Francis stepped up to the uneven bars, did two simple skills and slowly lowered herself back down to the ground. Francis waved to the empty stands with a smile on her face and eventually laughed off her 3.033 score as it boomed over the echoing loudspeakers.
Although she was similarly bubbly during a scoring delay midway through the meet, Chiles went on to struggle mightily from that point on.
Chiles was the No. 3 finisher at the United States' Olympic trials less than a month ago and she came to Tokyo looking to translate that performance into individual success. That wasn't the case Sunday, as she fell twice on beam and dragged her feet across the ground during her bar routine.
The young Bruin scored a 13.566 on floor, 14.700 on vault, 12.866 on uneven bars and 11.566 on balance beam. While her vault was fourth-best in Subdivision 3 and seventh-best of all competitors in qualifiers, she was not one of the eight gymnasts to advance to the individual final due to the maximum two entrants allowed per country.
Behind a slew of errors by Chiles, Simone Biles and the rest of the gold-medal favorite roster, Team USA only came in second in its Subdivision behind the Russian Olympic Committee with a total score of 170.562. Chiles will still get a chance to medal in the team finals, but not as an individual.
Chiles' new teammate, Brooklyn Moors, competed for Canada in Subdivision 4 later Sunday. The current Bruin had the best all-around score of any Canadian with a 53.966, helping her team qualify for the team finals as the second reserve as well.
Moors posted a 14.133 bars, 13.000 bars, 13.300 beam and 13.533 floor, which means she outscored Chiles by 1.268 on the all-around and split the four disciplines with her soon-to-be UCLA teammate.
Another incoming UCLA freshman, Emma Malabuyo, is an alternate for Team USA.
The women's team final is scheduled for Tuesday at 3:50 a.m. (PT).
Follow Connon on Twitter at @SamConnon
Follow All Bruins on Twitter at @SI_AllBruins
Like All Bruins on Facebook at @SI.AllBruins