Biles wins 4th gold medal at worlds
DOHA, Qatar — Simone Biles returned to training last November wondering if she could ever return to the form that made her an Olympic champion. She doesn’t wonder anymore. Neither does anyone else.
The American star capped a remarkable 2018 world gymnastics championships by claiming gold on floor exercise and bronze on balance beam during event finals Saturday, giving her six medals for the meet and 20 overall in the world championships, tied with Russia’s Svetlana Khorkina for the most by a female gymnast.
“I think there’s a lot to be proud, but I’m most proud of that I’m here, I made all the event finals, medaled in all of the events and I survived,” Biles said.
Something that wasn’t a guarantee when the meet began. Biles spent the night before qualifying in the hospital dealing with pain from a kidney stone. The stone was too big to pass and she couldn’t take prescription pain medication because of doping regulations, forcing her to simply deal with it.
Biles did more than deal with it. She dominated. Just like always.
The 21-year-old will head home to Houston with gold medals from the team final, the all-around final, floor and vault as well as silver on uneven bars and bronze on beam. She became the first woman to earn a medal on all four events since Yelena Shushunova did it for the Soviet Union in 1987.