Covering Gymnastics
I’m writing this in the press workroom at Ariake Gymnastics Center waiting for the women’s all-around final to start. Quite the drama two nights ago. I’m sure you knew Biles was out before we did. I was puzzled why she didn’t do the uneven bars and then she left the floor for a while. Finally word trickled into the arena that she had pulled out.
All our plans about how the U.S. won its third straight Olympic gold were quickly changed to make sure we shot as many of the Russians as we could. We were lucky that they were on the same apparatus as the U.S.
Here is the piece we did that night (and into the next morning). 4 a.m. to bed and then up at 6:30 to get to swimming.
Here was my contribution: Sunisa Lee on uneven bars. She tied for the highest score on bars.
One of our months-long projects for our Olympic preview was on Sunisa. Bedel and the gang flew to St. Paul where she trains. Little Canada, Minn., if you’re keeping track, right Liza?
I wasn’t on that trip but the crew got some great super slo-mo footage of her and some motion capture that allowed us to make a 3D representation of her on bars. Click on the video below to check it out.
I did meet her and her coach, though. We flew them down to Dallas so we could have her body professionally scanned to make an accurate model of her for the 3D sequences that are in the piece. I picked them up at the DFW airport and brought them to the scanning place. Then an hour later took them back to the airport. i was in Dallas working on another piece. They were pretty accommodating to fly to Dallas for an hour on her one day off from training.
If you don’t have a New York Times subscription (and get stopped trying to see this), not to worry. You can still get 10 free pieces a month. All you have to do is enter your email. Won’t cost you anything.
Here are some shots of her getting scanned.
We attached the scan to the motion capture data of her bars routine which allowed us to recreate it in 3D. The advantage to putting her in a 3D scene is that you can we can then move around her to see her routine from any angle we want to help explain what she’s doing.
Maybe she’ll win a medal tonight! Either way, we’ll be doing another piece on the all-around final.
Enjoy the gymnastics!
Here is our Suni Lee piece after she won the gold medal.
The Moves That Gave Sunisa Lee Olympic Gold
Eat at Joe’s 
Sweet pics of Sunisa on bars! Did you get a selfie with her in Dallas or did you have to play it cool? I love how you can take the body scan and transfer it to her entire routine.
I have a request… I knew you were at gymnastics, so I spent just as much time scanning the “crowd” as I did watching the athletes. Could you start waving while you take pictures? 😁
I’m with OSW, I keep looking for you!! Amazing things NYT is doing with the graphics. Hope you can catch up on some sleep, but guessing that won’t happen until you’re home.
Nice work, as always!
As a long-time pin and souvenir collector, are there any being sold this year? I would imagine there are no vendors? If there are, what is the most coveted item?
WELP! That worked out! late night ahead!
Very cool stuff! I definitely agree that we need you to wave or hold a big sign that says IT’S ME JOE so we can find you!! We have spent way too much time pausing and rewinding with our faces pressed up against the tv here! Hope you got some sleep.
Whooohooo, Sunisa!!!
I like the sign idea, I’m sure you can find poster board somewhere. Maybe next time you go to the store you can get some and pig ears to snack on while you make it! At this point, I feel like the sign is more important than sleep.
So cool for Sunisa and imagine all the Hmong and Hmong-American kids and adults inspired by her achievements! I slept so little during the 2012 Games timewarp but I wasn’t working as hard as you and your colleagues Joe! Though I did have to report to one of the races by 6am I think.
I just had my first “real” Olympic moment of these games while eating breakfast in the lobby of a motel in Christiana, DE. I watched the Japanese v. New Zealand football game with knowledgeable football fans from China and Latin America. That was a great/memorable way to start my day.
Joe, Keep experiencing the Olympics with the mind of a “beginner,” and keep processing and writing about them with the mind of the “expert.” (Shunryu Suzuki)
How’s that sign coming? We are trying really hard to find you and that would make it so much easier. And, we could be watching for you in events that you’re not even at. 🤷♀️😁
Always love the motion capture stuff. It’s my favorite of all the things you do. The piece on diving from London? (Rio?) is just an all-timer. You should re-share with this crew if you haven’t in the past. Still more diving to come, right? They can look for the cheats.