DOHA: Comments from Japan’s Mai Murakami after she won silver in the women’s All-around final on Thursday.
On her performance:
“I just wanted to do a four-four (four clean routines) and I did and it brought the silver medal. And I wanted to finish with a smile.”
On whether she thought she could win gold when she saw Simone Biles make mistakes on vault and balance beam:
“Instead of thinking I could win, I was thinking ‘Oh, Biles can fall.’”
On the steps she and the Japanese team need to overtake Biles and the USA team:
“I will have to put lots more difficult stuff. I need to raise my (Difficulty) score and we need to as a team.”
On her role as a leading figure in Japanese gymnastics:
“Asuka (Teramoto) is actually the captain but I want to lead my teammates with my performances, and I want to make lots of young gymnasts in Japan feel ‘I want to be like Mai.’ That is my job – to show them the way by my performance.”
On whether this medal was particularly important for Japan, which will host the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games:
“I wanted to get a medal as a team but this silver will be good motivation for the next year. My goal is winning a team gold (at Tokyo 2020) and this medal is the first step in leading my team-mates to go for it.”