Simone Biles bends reality to her will

Merely taking inventory of Simone Biles’ medal cabinet is exhausting. So you can imagine the sheer volume of work that must have gone into scaling a peak no other gymnast has summited.

At the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships, which concluded in Antwerp recently, Biles increased her World and Olympics medal tally to 37, making her the most decorated gymnast ever — male or female — at the sport’s two signature events ahead of the retired Vitaly Scherbo. This haul includes an astounding 23 World and 4 Olympic gold medals.

Back on top

By the time the American superstar left the Flemish port city, she had proven that she was back at the top of world gymnastics again, less than three months after returning to competition — she had taken a two-year hiatus from the sport to protect her mental health.

Biles tied the all-time record for all-around World titles by winning her sixth, clinched a sixth World floor championship, a discipline where she remains undefeated, sealed the balance beam title for a fourth time with a dazzling routine, led the US women to a record seventh straight victory in the team event and collected a silver on vault.

There was a sense of “life coming full circle”, for it was at Antwerp 10 years ago that Biles started her collection of World titles as a 16-year-old.

Asked if she had thought about her legacy — and how her record-breaking return to the international stage had added to it — Biles said, “Everyday I try to think about it, especially in therapy when we talk about it. And I think that’s when all the emotions come up. But I don’t think it will hit me until I retire and then look back and see everything I’ve done.”

A significant aspect of her legacy is her success in pushing the sport’s boundaries. The acrobatics that Biles tries are so extreme and difficult that even when she does not execute them to perfection, she still ends up on a World podium. Her vault silver at this year’s Championships came after she over-rotated her signature Yurchenko double pike and fell backwards on the mat on landing.

Fearless pioneer: Biles performs the Yurchenko double pike, now renamed the Biles II, watched by coach Laurent Landi and the judges. She became the first woman to land the daunting vault in international competition at the Worlds during qualifying.
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Conquering the unconquerable

Biles had become the first woman to land the Yurchenko double pike — a vault so daunting few men have attempted it — in international competition at the World Championships during qualifying. As a result, the vault is now named the Biles II.

Although she couldn’t pull it off in the vault final, the start value of the Biles II is so high that even the fall did not hurt her chances of medalling. Indeed, Biles even took a half-point deduction because her longtime coach Laurent Landi stood on the mat as a precaution, ready to assist her in case something went wrong.

Landi had also watched, at close quarters, the perfect Yurchenko double pike (then yet to be named the Biles II) at the US Championships in August. He had stood on the mat, arms slightly outstretched, as Biles soared through the air, her arms clasped behind her knees, her legs at a perfect 90-degree angle from her body. She rotated expertly and landed with a small hop.

Landi could only shake his head when asked if a Yurchenko double pike was supposed to look that easy. “No, it’s not normal,” he said. “She’s not normal. She’s one of the rare gymnasts that goes to meets and does it even better under pressure.”

At the Worlds, Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade, one of Biles’ biggest rivals, beat the American to gold in vault, but was disappointed to witness Biles failing in her quest for perfection. Asked whether she would try the Yurchenko double pike in competition, Andrade said it would be a “crazy” thing to do. “I don’t have the body for that,” she added.

The 4’8” Biles now has five skills named after her — two on the floor exercise, two on vault, and one on the balance beam — a testament to her contribution to the sport’s advancement.

What makes Biles’ pursuit of the physically impossible all the more remarkable is her battle with a mental block known as ‘the twisties’ — a temporary condition whereby gymnasts lose their sense of where they are in the air, increasing the risk of injury when they land.

‘The twisties’ had badly affected her Tokyo Olympics. She withdrew from four of five individual finals in Japan, taking team gold (despite pulling out midway through the competition) and beam bronze. Biles then stopped training completely and only returned to competition in August.

Biles said the therapy sessions and the breathing and visualisation exercises she has been doing on a regular basis since have helped her recover. “I was so much more nervous for team finals [at the Worlds] because that’s when everything occurred [in Tokyo], so I was a little bit traumatised from that. I was a little bit worried, but I know that I’ve been trained properly and that whatever happens, happens, so I wasn’t too worried about medal count or medal colour.

“It’s like as long as I get out there, do those routines again, it’s a win in my book. I had to prove to myself that I could still get out here and twist. I could prove all the haters wrong, that I’m not a quitter. As long as I’m out there twisting and finding the joy for gymnastics again, who cares?”

Extraordinary longevity

At 26, Biles was the oldest American woman in Antwerp and the first American to participate in six World Championships, a sign of her extraordinary longevity.

Invincible on the floor: In addition to a sixth all-around World title, Biles also clinched a sixth World floor championship, a discipline where she remains undefeated. 
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“I’m not like 16 anymore, everything feels different,” she said. “It’s not so carefree. Staying at the top and just pushing day in, day out is a little bit harder because I’m older, my body is tired and everybody’s like, ‘Gosh she looks great’ and I’m like, ‘I feel I’m going to die sometimes.’”

With the Paris Olympics less than a year away, Biles is back to her very best. And despite the fierce competition, she remains a cut above the rest. Her coach, Landi, said Biles doesn’t want to speak in detail about the Games yet to protect herself and avoid the pressure. “But for us as coaches it’s obviously the goal,” he said. “And we will get her ready for that, if she wants it.”

Biles’ new “whatever happens, happens” attitude has served her well on her comeback. It’s an approach she will retain on the road leading to Paris 2024. “I think we’re going to take that approach, the same one that we took this year, just meet by meet and we’ll see where we end up,” she said. “I can’t answer any questions for the future, I’m just going to live in the now.”