In those years, routines had become more hard, and a young gymnast from Texas named Simone Biles had bounded onto the scene. Her total of 62.198 was well clear of silver medalist and “Final Five” teammate Aly Raisman and Russian bronze medalist Aliya Mustafina.
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“Someone could say I’m the best but then there is a whole different side of people saying I am not”. Biles’ win makes the USA the first country to win four straight gymnastics titles. I don’t really like baiting my own hooks.
“Simone is so good that the Olympics have become boring”, Dave Lease, the editor of TSL, a figure skating and gymnastics news website, told me. And that was in 152 BC, 2,168 years ago.
Since making her debut at the 2013 world championships, the 19-year-old Biles has become an unstoppable force.
Biles packs so much difficulty into her routines that she starts with a point or two cushion. At the highest peak of the move, she leaps almost twice her height. Which she nearly never does and rarely is.
But Bostonian Raisman, known as the “Grandma” of the team at 22 years, has experience on her side in her second Olympics. She keeps her body upright, using her arms for balance, and bends her knees to absorb the energy from the somersault – giving the ideal landing.
“I wasn’t even really anxious about that”, said Biles, whose 4-foot-9 frame puts her at a disadvantage on the uneven bars.
“Just to not react to anything so fast”, she explained.
Meanwhile, Raisman quietly and characteristically did some of her best work with a quiet focus.
Next up, it was Simone Biles, the reigning world champion on the floor, and she needed a 13.83 to surpass her teammate for gold.
She was six when she first tried gymnastics and was training with a coach by the age of eight.
Compare the Comaneci and Biles routines from Montreal and Rio and you can see how the sport has evolved from elegant to electric. It can be spotted at the end of her second tumbling pass. She failed to nail the top score only in the uneven bars, but it didn’t matter.
It was fitting she ended on floor, where she soars so high she looks as if she could touch the sky.
“Her coach, Mihai Brestyan, told her “‘just said ignore everyone, ‘” she said.
Douglas seemed to be working to keep to the “slow-to-speak” motto, as several of her answers came after pauses in which she smiled and thought to herself.
They’ll likely be treated like celebrities there.
A decision that led to years of sacrifices and ultimately, the biggest night of her life. “But I just used it for motivation every single day in the gym”.
It has not quite sunk in yet, Biles said. Didn’t she know that’s ancient in the sport of gymnastics?
Her glittering under eye liner is pretty flawless, too Lets face it, it’s the only part of this woman’s success that we might be able to recreate for ourselves. On July 29, 2015, however, Biles chose to turn pro, forgoing her NCAA eligibility. To me, I’m still the same Simone. So, I just stay out of it.
With more likely to come.
But those would only add to her legend.
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Simone will be attending the prestigious UCLA for higher education, but deferred her admission till the 2016 Rio Olympics conclude.
