Simone Biles has been one of the best in the sport of gymnastics for many years now.
She began to make serious noise back in 2014 when she became the first woman to win four gold medals at the World Championships since the Soviet Union’s Ludmilla Tourischeva did it in 1974, a feat which she repeated in 2015. With her first world title, she also became the first African American woman to achieve that feat.
Then in 2016 she captured everyone’s hearts when she, along with her teammates, dubbed the “Final Five”, dominated the Olympics in Rio De Janeiro. Biles took home Gold in vault, floor, Individual and Team all-around, and also captured the Bronze on Beam.
While many only tune in to gymnastics during the Olympics, Biles doesn’t wait four years to dominate; she does it annually, and this weekend she did it again in a style that only she could do it in.
Competing in the U.S. Gymnastics Championships in Kansas City, Missouri, Biles reminded everyone of her greatness while also laying claim that she should be considered the GOAT of the sport.
She won her sixth all-around title at the Championships, capturing titles in the vault, balance beam and floor exercise, where her attention grabbing performances never fail to amaze. She even “had time” to grab third in the uneven bars. With this performance, Biles has now won 20 consecutive all-around titles over the last six years, including that aforementioned dominant performance at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.
But it was her performances in the beam and floor exercise that still has people talking.
In the floor exercise, she became the first woman to complete a triple double, which consists of two flips and three twists, in a competition, completing the move to the roar of the crowd.
RESPECT THAT, BOW DOWN ? @Simone_Biles keeps making history! First woman to land a triple double in competition on floor ?
— #TokyoOlympics (@NBCOlympics) August 12, 2019
That was the perfect way to end a weekend that began with an amazing Friday, where Biles stunned the crowd by becoming the first person in history to perform a double-double dismount on the beam. And she absolutely nailed it.
Nobody does it like Simone! @Simone_Biles is the first person in history to perform this beam dismount and she NAILED IT. ? pic.twitter.com/kf0L7GM35F
— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) August 10, 2019
“I was a lot happier today,” said Biles after the bars, “because I feel like I haven’t been as confident on bars this year as I was last year. To finally do a good routine like I can do it, I was very happy. And it was the last event, so I was like, ‘Thank God we’re done.'”
While the U.S. Championships are done, Biles is far from done as the World Championships in Germany are coming up in October (4th – 13th). The U.S. women are the defending champs, and Biles was the leader on that 2018 squad, capturing the all-around title, which included gold medals in the floor exercise and vault, silver in the bars and bronze on the beam.
“Right now, I feel like it’s a good peak,” said Biles. “But we don’t want to change too much going into next year. You kind of just want to stay consistent with your routines. If any upgrades come, you’ll see.”
And she’s right. With the Worlds in two months, and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics next year, everyone will be waiting anxiously to see the GOAT continue her dominance.
