SIMONE BILES READIES HERSELF TO SCRIPT OLYMPIC HISTORY IN TOKYO
FORT WORTH (US): Simone Biles toned it down. A little anyway. And soared even higher. The 24-year-old gymnastics superstar claimed her record seventh US title Sunday night, delivering another stunning—and stunningly easy—performance that served little doubt the pressure surrounding her bid to become the first woman to win back-toback Olympic championships in more than 50 years is only pushing her to even greater heights.
Shaking off a somewhat sloppy start Friday, at least by her impeccable standards, Biles put on a four-rotation showcase that highlighted why a GOAT emblem—a nod to her status as the Greatest Of All Time—has become a fixture on her competition leotard. Biles’ all-around score on Sunday of 60.100 was her highest since 2018 and served notice she is only getting better with the Tokyo Games less than seven weeks away.
It helped that she managed to stay inbounds (mostly) during her floor routine after stepping out three times on Friday. Blame it on the rush she gets when the lights are on and a crowd is in the palm of her hands. She was far more precise in finals save for one tumbling pass where one of her feet stepped over the white border. “It’s so crazy because in training I never go out of bounds and I never have this much power,” Biles said. “But with the adrenaline, that’s where it comes.”
While Biles’ victory was never in doubt—it rarely has been during her nearly eight-year reign atop the sport—she remains in no mood to coast. And to think she didn’t even bother with her latest innovation, a Yurchenko double-pike vault she drilled twice at the US Classic last month that caught the attention of everyone from Lebron James to Michelle Obama. So what if it had only historically been done by men? So what if the International Gymnastics Federation seemed intent on not giving the vault a difficulty value commensurate with its complexity? The vault exists. She can do it. She didn’t stick around for another year just to fool around. She stuck around to keep making history. Hands seemingly magnetised to her hamstrings as she soared off the vaulting table, Biles drilled the Yurchenko double pike during her victory at the US Classic. She had generated so much momentum that she took a couple of big hops upon landing.