U.S. star Simone Biles defended her floor title to claim an all-time record tenth women’s gold at the world gymnastics championships with an fantastic acrobatic display yesterday. Simone Biles had to shake off a few early errors, but she managed to pull ahead of the field by steadying herself and going on to complete a tightly choreographed, complex, and ambitious routine.
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“On beam, I think I gave the whole world a heart attack as well as myself out there, and then floor I’d never gone out of bounds, but I guess there’s a first for everything”, Biles said.
Biles took home the gold medal and Douglas took home the silver at the SSE Hydro Arena, The Guardian reported.
Oh, she’s also the driving force behind the most dominant team the USA has in a sport that’s catnip for Olympic fans.
It has been a meteroic rise in just over two years for Biles who has become the first woman since Russian Khorkina to win three all-around titles and first to win three in a row after Antwerp in 2013 and Nanning in 2014.
Biles, who qualified for the final ahead of European champion Giulia Steingruber, pulled ahead on the first rotation, the vault, scoring 15.833 to lead the Swiss by 0.233 with Douglas third at 0.533.
[Photo by Getty Images / Ian MacNicol]Simone Biles said she felt “vindicated” by her results on the final day, saying that it was nice to come back strong after her two mistakes in the all-around finals. Biles hardly looked exhausted on the last day of the meet, her beam routine a steady mix of rock-solid tumbling and elegant choreography. While the majority of the eight-woman final struggled on the four-inch wide plank, she was near flawless.
The US men’s program finished off a blue-collar performance at the championships with a needed influx of bling. She also bagged bronze on the vault.
The 21-year-old Whittenburg thunders off the horse with enough power to make the nearest tackling sled shiver. “Definitely a little relief for the men’s side to bring back a few hardware”.
While Biles will arrive at the Rio Olympics a three-times all-around world champion, Japan’s Uchimura showed that his appetite for gold remains insatiable. Finishing second behind Uchimura should provide the 2012 Olympic all-around bronze medalist with a boost following an uneven quadrennial. “Especially me. I know that I need moments like this”.
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While Biles and Uchimura were the leading lights on Sunday, Ri Se-gwang was saluting North Korea’s flag as his country’s national anthem was played for the second year running following his success in the vault final.
