Question

the following passage is from a book by olympic gymnast laurie hernandez. select the best evidence to support the statement that strong abdominal muscles are an essential part of gymnastics.

as it turned out, alys solid performance during podium training factored heavily into martas decision about who would compete. and having a small muscle strain in my stomach didnt help me. we were very discreet about my injury because we hoped it would improve quickly. but the strain was a little too unpredictable. one day it would be fine, and the next it would hurt badly. the muscle was in my core, which is something you work in every event, so it wasnt an injury to risk aggravating.

at first, i was really disappointed when i was chosen to sit out, because bars and the all - around were events i thought i could have scored really well in.

from laurie hernandez, i got this: to gold and beyond. copyright 2017 by laurie hernandez

Explanation:

The key evidence must link core (abdominal) muscles to gymnastics necessity. The passage states the strained core muscle is used in every gymnastics event, so risking it was unwise, directly showing its essential role.

Answer:

"The muscle was in my core, which is something you work in every event, so it wasn't an injury to risk aggravating."