TOKYO -- Samir Ait Said carries a soft, grey blanket with a stuffed elephant in the corner that belongs to his infant daughter, and wears a gold necklace in memory of his late father.
These are the reminders the French gymnast is carrying with him in Tokyo, rather than the memory of that gruesome injury at the Rio Olympics that horrified anyone who saw or heard it.
“When I arrived here, I had some flashbacks from Rio. But then I realized I have to go forward,” Ait Said said Saturday, after qualifying for the still rings final.