I am in awe of anyone who has even a smidge of athletic talent, as I am a fantastic spectator and cheerleader, but my talents stop right at the edge of the field/court/mat. The strength, stamina, and skills that athletes possess amaze me. Simone Biles clearly has all of those. On Sunday, I was sleeping late, eating waffles, and watching Hocus Pocus for the umpteenth time this year while Simone Biles was making history in Germany:
Simone Biles has made history again!
The four-time Olympic gold medalist, 22, broke a world championships record on Sunday, as she picked up her 24th and 25th medals.
Winning gold medals for both her floor routine and the balance beam, Biles became the most-decorated gymnast at worlds, breaking the long-held record of 23, which was set by male gymnast Vitaly Scherbo back in the 1990s.
Days earlier, Biles had already become the most-decorated woman, when she won her 21st medal in the team competition, according to the New York Times.
On Sunday, Biles, who has struggled on the beam in the past, jumped up out of her seat as her scores came in and began celebrating as she saw she had received 15.066 points.
The gymnast ended her big day with her floor exercise, on which she earned 15.133 points — putting her a full point ahead of fellow American gymnast Sunisa Lee.
Simone has two new moves named after her:
The 22-year-old perfectly executed a triple-double, which consists of a double backflip with three twists, to start her floor routine at the 2019 gymnastic world championships in Stuttgart, Germany on Saturday. That is expected to be known as the “Biles II.”
The impressive performance from the decorated Olympian did not stop there. She landed the double-double dismount from the balance beam, a move that includes a double-twisting double backflip. Not an easy feat to say the least. That move will now be called the “Biles.”
I can’t stop rewatching videos of Simone’s routines. NBC Sports has video of her medalling balance beam routine. I also can’t stop thinking about the fact that Simone is doing all of this hard work on behalf of USA Gymnastics, and in August, she called out the organization for failing to protect athletes from Larry Nassar, after acknowledging in early 2018 that she was one of his victims. I’m so happy to see Simone doing well, thriving, and being awarded for her talent. I can’t wait to watch her at the Olympics next year.
Simone Biles now holds the record for most world medals by a gymnast. Here she wins her 25th world medal.pic.twitter.com/HDaPotLVkv
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) October 13, 2019
Photos credit: Avalon.red
Simone is literally so talented and physically strong she is able to do things never seen in women’s competitions. She deserves this recognition. So proud of her.
I agree – Simone is absolutely in a class of her own right now and I think that this is why she is still upgraded as the only person she has to compete against these days is herself.
Hoping that we will see the Biles vault again. However I’m not sure that we will ever see the double twisting double back somersault from the beam again now that it is officially ranked at only 0.1 higher than the single twist – not really worth the risk.
Loved her response to the FIG grading it an H. Something like “HaHaHaHaHaHa bullshit.” Which is not very Simone-like, but a totally warranted and bad@ss response.
Her strength is truly amazing. The height she gets for flips, twists, etc leaves me in awe.
My two little boys were watching her on tv a couple days ago and they were simply mesmerized. 🙂
Yes! I hope she goes on to become an ambassador for women’s rights, women’s sports, etc. What a great role model. She has the power to do so much good in the world. You rock, Simone! Congratulations.
I was a gymnast growing up and have followed gymnastics my whole life. She is the most talented gymnast I have ever seen. Ever. Once in a lifetime level talent. Also, the mic drop she did at the end of one of her fx routines was so boss!
We need a movie about her!! I grew up watching Nadia every year; now I need to see Simone (the movie)
I’m pretty sure there is one, because I remember watching it. It came out right after Gabby’s video. I think it was done by Lifetime, so it’s sort of lower quality. I would love for HBO to do a documentary on her, similar to their Serena one.
Oh I would love a good documentary on her!
Yes! The Nadia movie was my life as a child. I want my kids to have an equally good movie about Simone!
I was in awe watching Simone compete. She is truly the G.O.A.T. of gymnasts. I don’t think she gets enough credit for her technical skills which really are superb. She truly is a once in a generation athlete. Looking forward to seeing her compete in next year’s Olympics.
I watched and my mouth was agape! She is truly awesome!! Can’t wait for the Olympics, too!
She is a beast, I love watching her progress and accomplishments. Wonderful.
She is truly incredible. We are lucky to be able to witness this. She is an extraordinary athlete, an extraordinary person, and the perfect example of hard work, determination, and pure talent
it sounds hokey, but I feel the same way – lucky to live in the time to see her do this. She is talented and a wonderful ambassador for her sport who refuses to look the other way in the face of abuses. My heart just bursts with pride for this amazing woman.
I don’t follow sports really at all and frankly all gymnastic work seems incredible to me, so I had to see a slow motion breakdown. She’s just unbelievable. The skills and talent and work… it just boggles my little gravity bound body.
I’m just sad for her to be doing so much of this with the Orange Turd squatting in the White House. What a hellish invitation that would be. I wonder if she’d get cold Wendy’s or cold McDonald’s from him.
she is incredible. i had my 2.5 yr old daughter watch a segment about her on the sunday night news and she said “oh she’s so beautiful. i want to be like that. she’s so cool mom” and proceeded to run around the living room and jump and flop and flip onto the couch. i was very proud 🙂 a good first role model.
Between Simone today and the post about Greta T yesterday, it’s a good time for strong, amazing women.
Simone is incredible, even more impressive considering the Nassar ordeal. Those survivors are a force. Wishing her continued success.
We watch her and see strength, grace, and incredible talent. I think of the hundreds of hours spent in the gym, and how dedicated she has been. And now she is a champion in every way. She is an American hero!
#goat Like a BOSS, she is truly the greatest of all time. And a hometown Houston girl!! 😍😍
I love Simone! She is such a badass! So talented and confident. I remember at the Rio Olympics someone aakes if she is the next Michael Phelps and she said no, she’s the first Simone Biles. Love her!!
That was my favorite quote in a LONG time! And she’s 100% RIGHT.
So satisfying to see her win after the FIG tried to downplay her accomplishments by reducing the scoring on her maneuvers. Really incredible to see that kind of talent in my lifetime.
She’s the most dominant athlete ever imo. She’s not a once in a lifetime athlete, she’s a once in 10 lifetimes athlete.
When I was a kid women’s gymnastics was beautiful to watch. Graceful and balletic, especially the tumbling. Now it is nail biting and exciting. It’s becoming more like watching the men. Not better or worse, just really different. My main complaint is the beam. I’d rather see a simpler routine with not one wobble and complete connection than a super high D score but with wobbles and a lot of pauses between elements.
Do you realize you just equated beautiful with balletic? As though if you’re not a ballerina, your gymnastics and dance can’t be beautiful? I’m so sick of this opinion, esp as I never see people who espouse this ever point to black or brown athletes as being balletic and graceful; in fact, they only seem to praise black gymnasts for being “powerful, strong, good tumblers” (as though black bodies can’t be graceful). The only gymnasts they identify as being graceful, artistic, and beautiful are white. It’s racist bullshit. There’s more than one way to be artistic, and gymnastics is not ballet. Simone’s gymnastics is incredibly beautiful — she has exceptional technique, her execution is so clean, and she has artistry and musicality out her ass.
I know what you mean. Even the mens’ gymnastics was more “dancerly” too though. I had a phase I was really into watching older clips on YouTube.
As amazing as Simone Biles is, I too preferred the older, balletic style of gymnastics. It’s a style preference. I personally found it more appealing. Jessica, I think you are over-reacting to Aang’s comment and accusing her unfairly of racism. The jerky movements particularly of the arms in today’s beam and floor routines simply don’t appeal to me the way the more balletic style did. The tumbling is incredible and exciting but my preference was for the more balletic movements. The last gymnast who embodied that particular style AND was also an incredible tumbler was Nastia Liukin. It’s just a preference and in no way detracts from the greatness of Biles or any other current top gymnast.
The last gymnast to embody balletic style was actually Gabby Douglas (black). That’s why a lot of the “balletic style” talk gets side-eyed a little. The truth is that Gabby Douglas also had a long, lean physique like Nastia’s, unlike Aly Raisman and Jordyn Wieber and Shawn Johnson, who were more like Simone. The problem with “balletic body” was that it was more difficult for young gymnasts to maintain after puberty, and required serious disordered eating to keep up (which also led to more injuries). Simone’s body is probably the most ideal gymnastics body in that she’s been so rarely injured, and her size is maintainable for her. A body like hers has the strength and power to do the difficult tricks. Gymnastics can be a woman’s sport, when at the worst of times (1980s/1990s) it was truly a girls sport. No woman could actually do it. The 90’s gymnasts had horrible experiences with both eating disorders and injuries. So while “balletic lines” are pretty, I’m glad that strength has won out because gymnasts can be older and healthier now.
I love watching gymnastics in general – its amazing to me what those athletes can do with their bodies – and Simone is just so mesmerizing to watch – I keep rewatching her dismount from the beam and I’m like, BUT HOW IS SHE DOING THAT?!?!!?
I cant even do a cartwheel.
So yeah, she’s incredible and already a legend. Cant wait to see her in the Olympics again!
This young lady is ABSOLUTELY FLAWLESS!!! Im in tears. She is so graceful and beautiful to watch. Wow, what the human body can do is , amazing. Im inspired.
This same weekend, Eliud Kipchoge, a Kenyan, broke the sub 2hour marathon limit and Brigid Kosgei from Kenya too broke Paula Radcliffes 17yr old Chicago marathon record.
Lets not forget Allyson Felix who beat Usain Bolts record earlier this month in the World Athletics Championships.
Its a great year for black athletes and im so proud.
The National Women’s History Museum FB page just posted a great article about Simone, Brigid, and Coco Gauff, a tennis champion.
Simone is a force! I am in awe of her athletic talent, but also her bravery in speaking out to help women and girls fight abuse.
Greatest gymnast of all time is a given… however, I’ve heard her described at the greatest athlete of all time & this is something I can get behind!
That’s amazing really. I wonder what special magic it is that sets her apart from all the others.
I’m for it too. Not to take away from any other athlete, but the pure skill required to do what Simone does is just unfathomable. And it’s not just one skill, but 4 different competitions each time, which all use different abilities and talents. She is so beyond anyone else in her field too, and it’s such a small window of time athletes generally can compete as gymnasts.
She is incredible in every way.
Remember Simone is a foster child as well. She had a rough start in life, and was so lucky to have grandparents who could raise her (Mom was an addict, I believe). She’s such an inspiration!
THE GOAT!!!!! Her strength is unbelievable!!!