Can’t write my story, I’m beyond the archetype. I won’t just conform, no matter how you shake my core, cause my roots, they run deep
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A billionaire industrialist and genius inventor, Tony Stark, is conducting weapons tests overseas, but terrorists kidnap him to force him to build a devastating weapon. His daughter, Adelaide, has to juggle Malibu and Manhattan, Stark Industries and High School, and cope with the fact that her father is presumed dead.
Ever since London 2012, I’ve had this burning desire to go back in time and have my parents put me in gymnastics instead. But at almost 20, it’s something I’ll just have to live with. However, I did have an interesting dream the other day, so I’m writing it out here to share. It’s purely fiction, so don’t get your knickers in a knot over it. It’s just for fun.
(I added NBC commentary into this because I thought it would be funny to speculate what they would say in this situation)
Summary: She was eligible to compete in the London 2012 Olympic Games, but was left off the Australian team in favour of older, more experienced athletes. Now, having closed her hold on the singular spot for the Rio 2016 Games, she takes the opportunity... and never relinquishes it from her grasp.
If you like underdog stories, give it a read. And ignore the fact that it would blatantly never happen. Just enjoy :D
Vault
Deep breath.
The Arena Olimpica do Rio was abuzz around her, with camera flashes going off in all directions, but her only focus was on the vaulting table standing stoically at the opposite end of the arena.
*Al “I’m Al Trautwig, here with Tim Daggett and Nastia Liukin, bringing you women’s individual all-around from Arena Olimpica do Rio, and I must say, it’s already shaped up to be an interesting final, hasn’t it Tim?”
*Tim “Absolutely, and you know, it was no surprise that Simone Biles, the three time reigning World champion, qualified in first place. But the biggest surprise of all was who qualified in second!”
*Al “That’s right, Courtney Stevens of Australia qualified in second place to the all-around final, only a point behind Simone. As the first Australian to qualify into the top group of the Olympic all-around final, she’s already made history, but a second place ranking behind Simone Biles begs the question; can she change the stereotype of Australian gymnasts and take home a medal today?”
*Tim “She performs like no other Australian gymnast I’ve seen before, she’s on par with the best of the best from America, but we’ve yet to find out how she deals with the pressure. To potentially bring home an Olympic medal for Australia... that’s huge, and it’s a lot of weight on her shoulders”
*Al “We’ll bring you more on Courtney’s journey to the Olympics as the competition progresses, but right now, she is first up to vault, and the competition is getting underway”
Licking her lips as she dusted the chalk from her hands, Courtney watched as the stop light on the screen at the end of the podium changed to green. She lifted her arms immediately, swallowing down the butterflies as the timer began to tick down, giving her thirty seconds to start her vault.
*Tim “She’s going to do an Amanar here, the same vault that we will see Simone Biles do in a few moments, and I must say, she did it really well in qualifications”
*Nastia “She did say she likes vault and floor most, she said running full speed at stationary objects is her favourite thing”
Hopping off her left foot, Courtney broke into her run, picking up her pace quickly and evenly. Seconds later, she was hurdling onto the mat, and the second her feet left the ground, she could feel that it was going to be a good vault.
Blocking hard from the table, she twisted as her body flipped over in the air. Before she could even think about it, her feet had hit the ground and she had straightened up into a salute, a confident smile spreading across her face.
*Nastia “That was beautiful!”
*Tim “An unexpectedly strong start for Australia’s Courtney Stevens! That vault, as well as her qualifying rank means we definitely need to keep our eyes on her”
Bars
Simone had done a strong vault to lead her competition off, as was expected of her. The first rotation had seemed to last only a few minutes, and before too long, the top qualifiers were picking up their things and heading around to the uneven bars.
She was chalked up, stretched, and ready to go, but Courtney would be the fourth athlete to compete on the bars. She was kind of glad for this seeding; she would be able to watch the three competitors before her, which included Aly Raisman and Simone Biles. The two Americans were the two she really needed to keep her eye on. She knew she could score well enough to widen the gap between herself and Aly, but it was going to come down to how Simone did to decide the standings heading into the third rotation.
*Al “We promised we would bring you more on Courtney’s journey to Rio, and now, while we wait for bars to get underway, that’s exactly what we’re going to do”
*Tim “It’s been a rocky rise for her, but she started out the same as most other girls here did, just running around in the gym for fun. Then one day, a coach saw a spark in her and said ‘hey, this kid needs to go elite’. So she was moved from her local gym to Western Australia’s National Excellence program at the Western Australian Institute of Sport, where she trained alongside World Champion Lauren Mitchell, Olivia Vivian, and Emily Little”
*Al “Here’s where the journey to Rio truly began. At 15 years old, due to turn 16 in a few months time, she was old enough to qualify for the London Olympics in 2012. She had cut down her hours at school, she had poured everything into making that Olympic dream happen. Only to be left off the team in favour of more experienced athletes. She nearly gave it all up, but it was Lauren Mitchell who convinced her that she had the potential to go far in the sport, and after a lot of regrouping and re-planning, Courtney and her coach realigned for Rio”
*Tim “She had a great quad up until the end of the World Championships last year. Picked up a couple of medals over the three years, but she was in the gym the week after the World Championships, and as she was doing a back handspring, she dislocated her shoulder. The ligament damage wasn’t bad enough to warrant surgery, but it did shake her confidence. Then, early this year, just after the American Cup, she pulled the ligaments in her left foot, which limited her training time. Right as that injury had healed, she sustained a minor injury to her MCL, which actually is still bothering her today. Her coach said, she can feel it in everything she does, the ligament doesn’t want to go, but she’s pushing through it and they’re going to have it evaluated when they return from Rio. Even though she puts forward a very bubbly nature, and in spite of her small frame, most people wouldn’t believe she’ll be 20 two weeks after the Games close, and she has said that her age just brings more propensity for injury”
*Nastia “Not only that, but just three weeks prior to the beginning of the Games, WAIS closed the training center in Perth, and Courtney and her coach were stranded without anywhere to train. She ended up being allowed to use the facilities at a local recreational gym until Peggy Liddick could organise to get her to Melbourne to train at the National Center there”
*Al “So all in all, everything has conspired against this young lady and yet she still stands here as the second best qualifier in the Olympic final”
*Tim “Exactly, and that’s why we need to watch her closely. When you have that much stacked against you, it either breaks you or forces you to greatness”
Routines flew before her eyes. The crowd cheered around her for the other gymnasts competing around the arena. Aly and Simone both put up solid routines, moving them to second and first respectively in the standings.
Taking a deep breath before ascending the podium, she was glad to find the butterflies were retreating and being replaced with a feeling of deep seeded motivation.
She waited and waited, repeatedly dusting her hands and grips with chalk as she watched the stop light. It seemed to take forever, but eventually, it changed to green.
Present to the judges. Step forward. A small jump into a glide straddle kip and off she went.
Her swing came easily, as did the power needed for the release moves. A piked Tkatchev, a Pak salto, into a Shaposhnikova half back up to the high bar.
Her double layout dismount came easily with the momentum she had built up. A hop forward on the landing was all the adjustment she needed before straightening up and saluting the judges.
*Tim “She’ll be pretty happy with that! That should bring her quite even with Simone in the standings as they move to beam”
“I think that was the best bar routine I’ve ever seen you do,” Peggy laughed as she met Courtney at the bottom of the podium steps. “Did it feel better?”
“Yeah,” Courtney said with a smile. “It didn’t hurt my shoulder too, so I guess that’s an added plus,” she giggled.
Peggy chuckled, patting Courtney gently on her upper back as the young gymnast moved to her bag to put away her grips.
Beam
*Al “So, we’re onto beam. And biggest surprise, Courtney is currently a tenth ahead of Simone, sitting in first place after two rotations. Do you think Simone can still pull out a win?”
*Tim “If anyone can go from second by a tenth to winning by four points after two rotations, it would be Simone Biles. Don’t forget, beam is the great leveller, and we still have floor to come. Beam will definitely be a decider in this competition, more so than ever”
*Al “What things factor into who is going to come out on top after beam?”
*Tim “Well, you’ve got Simone Biles, the current two time World Champion on this event. Aly Raisman is the 2012 bronze medallist, so you never count Aly out. But on the other end of the spectrum, there’s Courtney. One of her World medals was on this event, a silver medal in 2013, and she’s only about a tenth below Simone in difficulty, so we know she can be great. There is the small problem though, if there’s anywhere she’s weak, it’s beam. And it’s not even that she scores low, she scores very well on this event. She just happens to be terrified of it”
*Nastia “I think everyone’s terrified of beam”
*Tim “Peggy said before the final, if there’s anywhere Courtney could potentially falter, it would be here, because she has headcased on it before when the pressure’s on”
The first four routines whipped by, posting astronomical scores by Simone, and a surprisingly high score from Aly. The gap was going to widen, and it was starting to look like Simone had the all-around in the bag.
Courtney hadn’t come into the final with the expectation of medalling, even after her high qualification. She knew Simone was going to win. For herself, it was about getting a personal best and performing well amongst the top gymnasts. If that personal best included a potential bronze or silver medal, it was just icing on the cake.
Deep breath.
She really hated beam.
But like the gutsy gymnast she knew she had to be, she saluted the judges and mounted the beam without a second thought.
Acro series? No problem. Full turn? Slight wobble, but nothing she couldn’t save in a second. Leaps and jumps? Pretty solid. Standing Arabian? Surprisingly solid. Flips? Ok.
Just the dismount.
*Tim “That beam is only four inches wide, so there’s a lot of room for error on any element in these routines”
Standing on the end of the beam, staring at that narrow platform, she bit back the nerves.
She’d done the dismount a thousand times before.
Hearing the chime that meant she had ten seconds to get off the beam, she sucked up everything she had and took off into her round-off.
A rebound into a clean double pike left her smiling and well and truly relieved to be back on solid ground.
As she descended the stairs to light applause, she grinned at Peggy.
“I didn’t think you were going to come down off that beam,” Peggy teased. Courtney laughed.
“Neither did I, I thought I was gonna be stuck up there”
*Tim “All three of the top qualifying gymnasts have done what they needed to do here on beam and have kept the momentum going. The final rotation is going to be very tight, because all three of these ladies are equally as good on floor”
*Nastia “Simone has the highest difficulty value and is a three time World Champion, Aly is the reigning Olympic Champion, and Courtney has a largely unseen floor routine up her sleeve that is sure to turn heads”
*Al “We’ll be back with the final rotation in the women’s individual all-around final, here at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games”
Floor
First to start. Last to go.
Simone had nailed every aspect of her floor routine. Breaking her cardinal rule of not checking the scores during the competition, Courtney had chanced a glance at the scoreboard.
*Al “So what the scoreboard says right now is that Simone Biles has all but sealed the deal on a gold medal. Aly Raisman has closed in on a silver, and Giulia Steingruber is sitting in third, but the final competitor has yet to go. To put this in perspective; her routine starts at 6.8 difficulty, she scored a 15.300 in qualifications, and the score she needs to break into the medals? 14.900. How likely is it Tim?”
*Tim “Barring anything major, Courtney should be taking home Australia’s first medal tonight”
She was in her pose, waiting for the familiar chime followed by the sound of the bagpipes she thrived on.
And then they came.
Off she went, into her double twisting double back tuck (”Two twists! Two flips!”), followed by her 1.5 into triple twist series.
The bagpipes were rousing the crowd, and the smile on her face was more than enough proof that she was enjoying the routine. Her third pass was solid as usual, the dance was beautiful and clean, her leaps felt higher and flightier than they usually were.
Lining up for the final tumbling pass, she made the split second decision to change what she was going to do. Big tumbles were her forte, endurance was instilled in her... she was so close to making a statement, she had to go out with a bang.
Her double layout came through, but with two twists, one of the hardest tumbles in the Code.
*Tim “WHAT!?”
*Nastia “Oh my gosh!”
*Al “How did she do that at the end of her routine?”
Her music finished as she threw her hands up into her final pose. Beaming from ear to ear as the arena clapped and cheered for her, she saluted the judges and headed down to join Peggy and Nikolai.
“You just gave Nikolai a heart attack. And me, I had a heart attack too,” Peggy said in disbelief. “Where did that come from?”
Courtney grinned. “Go big or go home”
Shaking his head, Nikolai let out an exasperated laugh, pulling his gymnast into a tight hug.
*Tim “She needed a 14.900 for the bronze and she has most definitely done that! I think she’s in for a silver, so Australia, you can start celebrating right now!”
Catching her breath, Courtney accepted hugs from her competitors, as well as an exclamation of disbelief from Simone. Her stomach was twisting itself back into knots as she stood in the center of the arena, eyes fixed up towards the scoreboard as she waited for her final score.
Peggy was soon by her side. They were waiting.
And waiting.
And waiting.
“Why is it taking so long?” Courtney asked nervously, her voice shaking as she looked back towards the other girls. Had she done something wrong in the routine? Was one of her elements being devalued?
Just as she was about to really start worrying, the scoreboard flickered.
And the arena exploded.
1. Courtney Stevens - 63.485
2. Simone Biles - 63.385
She had surpassed Simone Biles, the reigning World Champion, the most dominant gymnast of her time, by a tenth of a point.
*Tim “OH MY GOD! UNBELIEVABLE!”
*Al “She is Olympic All-Around champion!”
*Nastia “Her gamble paid off!”
*Tim “Look at that score, she scored 16.133 on FLOOR! That’s a feat for the history books all on it’s own!”
Tears were streaming down her face as Peggy, jumping up and down with excitement, wrapped her into the tightest hug she’d ever felt in her life. Sobs were wracking her body with increasing fervour, the overwhelming emotion of what she had just done flooding through the walls of gymnastics focus she’d spent four years building.
And then they were surrounded by gymnasts and coaches alike. The crowd was cheering ecstatically, flags were waving, Peggy was crying.
*Tim “This is history, right here! She came in virtually unknown, representing a country with NO MEDAL HISTORY at the Olympic Games. And now she is Olympic All-Around champion!”
*Nastia “This is such an amazing moment for her. I mean, look at all those gymnasts, every gymnast in this arena is congratulating her because while they are competitors, they also appreciate each other’s hard work, and to see a country that has never medalled before produce the next Olympic champion... wow. I can’t believe I’m witnessing this”
Laughing through tears, Courtney had regained enough composure to climb back up onto the floor and wave to the arena. She knew her parents were up there somewhere, probably in tears.
What a night.
One she would never forget.
The first installment of Beyond the Archetype! Yes, I’ve decided to chronicle the story that stems from the dream I had, because who doesn’t love the story of an Aussie underdog.
Again, don’t read into it. I’m not saying Australia is going to come in and blitz the competition (we won’t), and I’m not saying I could do these skills even if I was a gymnast (I like to think I could, but reality lol). It’s just a fun little imagine, because who doesn’t like envisioning themselves as Olympic Champion?
