JEROME SOLOMON ON HOW HOUSTON’S TINY STAR STANDS THE TALLEST.
Simone Biles, by leaps and bounds, soars above a city chock-full of superstar athletes
Can there be too many stars, too many great athletes, too many legends in the making for one city to have?
Not hardly. But if there were such a thing, Houston has crossed that threshold.
This will be remembered as the golden era for Houston sports.
The oft-accepted idea that Houston isn’t a great sports town will be eradicated in the next decade, after the current legion of individual stars have kept the city’s name trending for that long.
Texans defensive end J.J. Watt appears near the top of every reputable “Most Liked,” “Most Respected,” “Most Admired” NFL player list. And all sports lists for that matter.
Teammate Deshaun Watson is climbing those charts as well. Whenever DeAndre Hopkins is ranked lower than No. 2 as the best at his position, it is a travesty.
Not many NBA teams, and that includes both teams in Los Angeles, boast the star-power combination of the Rockets’ James Harden and Russell Westbrook, two former Most Valuable Players.
The Astros are so loaded it can become confusing for the casual spots fan.
I mean, is the best pitcher in baseball Gerrit Verlander? Is Alex Alvarez the best young player in the sport? Is any player in the game hotter right now than Yordan Gurriel? And how crazy is it that Jose Correa is a star, yet the most overlooked player on the team?
Decent to special people, outstanding to spectacular athletes.
Yet the best of the best, the athlete who is not only better at what she does than the others, but farther ahead of her competition than all, wasn’t mentioned above.
Simone Biles is the most underappreciated superstar athlete in Houston.
If you haven’t been watching her, you have missed arguably the most amazing performer in the city’s history.
When it comes to dominance and the staying power to remain on top, there is no argument. Biles is the best.
As impressive as the accomplishments of other Houston stars are, Biles has won every major title she has competed in since 2013.
Aside from her five national championships — with a record-tying sixth at hand Sunday night — she has a record four world titles and won four gold medals at the Rio Olympics.
The last time someone other than Biles won an all-around gymnastics championship with Biles in the field, Watt had played just one NFL season and Harden was a backup in Oklahoma City. They had not yet played in a Pro Bowl or NBA All-Star Game.
In most champions minds, winning and losing is about what they do, not the competition. That is certainly the case with Biles.
But it’s dismissive for others to say Biles is competing against herself. She can’t lose if she performs anywhere near her best, but she can’t win by just showing up.
Her greatness, and willingness to take on the most difficult moves, gives her a margin for error that is difficult to overcome. She doesn’t coast. She has taken her gifts, nourished them through relentless training and pushed herself to the limit.
Friday night at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships in Kansas City, Mo., Biles became the first to attempt and land a double-twisting double somersault dismount off the balance beam.
Gravity be damned: Two flips, two twists.
“You should never settle just because you’re at the top,” she told reporters at the nationals. “You should always push yourself.”
That landing came at the end of an evening that began with her having to put her hands down on the landing of a tripletwisting double somersault. She was angry at herself for not completing something no woman in history has even tried.
That added pressure, selfinflicted though it may be, makes her accomplishments even more impressive.
The great ones are different. Biles won last year’s world title by the widest margin ever, and she did it while dealing with a painful kidney stone.
The grace with which she has dealt with sharing her story of being one of hundreds of gymnasts who were sexually abused by former USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar has been heart-wrenching and inspiring.
This past week she talked about the difficulty of going to the doctor or receiving treatment from trainers because of Nassar’s horrific crimes, which were allowed to continue for many years due to organizational failure.
What she has had to overcome makes her triumphant story all the more impressive.
Houston’s best, now and forever, is simply amazing. She is the one to watch.
Since a city can never have too many special athletes, it’s OK to give the other ones a little appreciation, too.