Simone Biles doesn’t want to follow in the footsteps of other Olympic stars.
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United States’ Simone Biles performs on the floor during the artistic gymnastics women’s individual all-around final at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, Aug. 11, 2016. Her teammate Aly raisman, impressing with the silver second.
Following is a factbox on reactions to American gymnast Simone Biles winning all-around gold at the Rio Olympics on Thursday. When Laurie Hernandez was introduced to the crowd, Raisman nudged her and told her to wave, which the 16-year-old did with a toothy smile. She scored 62.198, punctuating her afternoon with a 15.933 on the floor exercise. They don’t often come from Biles, who rarely shows much in the way of emotion beyond sheer joy. The pressure is gone. Biles is a whirlpool of motion on vault, a handspringing trapeze artist on the four-inch balance beam, a bouncing ball of complex choreography on floor. Jaw-dropping on floor. Brilliant as ever.
Liukin is the 2008 Olympic individual all-around champion.
Biles could still win three more gold medals before the Games with the teenager set to challenge in the beam, vault and floor.
Raisman admitted that her London heartbreak had lifted her to take her fifth Olympic medal. I was just a really hyperkid and I was always bouncing off the walls. “I feel like I did my best and that’s all you can do”. “I go into it knowing that I hope that she wins just because she wins every single competition”. “I wasn’t anxious… I was expecting her to hit the beam at her best and do her very good floor routine”.
After Thursday night’s all-around, USA Today tracked down Bela Karolyi, the man who coached Comaneci back in Romania and created the modern American model for women’s gymnastics.
This marked Simone’s second gold medal of these Olympics, having already won gold in the team final competition with the rest of her Final Five squad on Tuesday.
As her teammate Raisman said, “Simone’s just in her own league”.
Something that seemed far from certain last fall.
She was ready for the Olympic moment everyone had been expecting from her for three years.
For Raisman silver felt like gold against a rival who has reigned since 2013 with 14 world medals – ten in gold. Viewers can expect to see absurd levels of difficulty and routines packed with skill-after-skill many of her peers won’t even attempt in competition. She tumbled and flipped and twisted with precision and confidence, moving more easily than us mere mortals do on flat ground.
She has had four years to think about that day.
Flo Gymnastics writes, “Her defiant personality and intensity in competition have earned her the title of “diva” – but a more realistic depiction of Mustafina may be that she is one of the most passionate gymnasts to ever grace the Olympic stage”. It’s not a coincidence.
The girl adopted by her grandparents as a toddler and discovered by coach Aimee Boorman’s mother during a field trip to the gym where Boorman was coaching has become a force.
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Biles’ talent is unmistakable, but it took time to harness.
