RIO DE JANEIRO _ After Maddie Kocian had cleared the most difficult portion of her uneven bars routine, halfway through the set, her coach Laurent Landi clapped, turned and headed for his seat.
Game over.
Best performance ever by Maddie?
"Pretty much," he said, smiling.
The contribution of Dallas' own to the U.S. women's gymnastics team gold Tuesday may not have been critical, given the group's dominance from top to bottom, but Kocian more than held up her end, nonetheless.
To give you an idea: The bars are considered the U.S. group's weakest as a whole. Simone Biles, the world's best all-around gymnast, managed just a 14.8 score in the event Tuesday.
Gabby Douglas, defending gold medalist, followed with a 15.76.
Next came Kocian and her 15.93, tops of the day.
Even if it's what everyone expected, Kocian included, it's difficult to believe that in February she broke her left ankle. Not that it's a problem now. She said her ankle's so good, in fact, she's been training for four events here.
The bars are her specialty, though, and it showed Tuesday. It's the same routine she's been doing since the world championships last year, with a slight difference.
"At worlds I didn't make all the connections," she said, "so that's what I've been working on this year.
"I did my job and it was one of my best bar routines."
Nice time to come up big, at that, but that's not how one of the greatest gymnastics teams ever works. The idea is to compete every day like it's the Olympics.
Do that, and the size of the stage no longer matters.
"Martha (Karolyi) told us before we went out she had all of her trust in us and she knew that we can do it," Kocian said.
"Just be confident."
Check that, though her coach still needed a little bit of confirmation as he stood next to the uneven bars, waiting for her big move.
Check.
"It was a little bit of relief," he said.
All that was left for Kocian at that point was picking up the hardware from her first Olympics.
What did you think when the gold medal slipped around your neck?
"It's really heavy."
Get used to it.
