Biles in a world of her own as records pile up
Everyone counts Simone Biles’ medals except Simone Biles.
Winning her 24th and 25th world championships medals in beam and floor in Stuttgart, Germany, yesterday, put the United States gymnast top of the alltime medal charts for the championships.
Biles won five gold medals this week. If she can repeat that at next year’s Olympics it would be a feat no female gymnast has managed at a single Games. But for Biles, it’s not about the statistics.
‘‘I can’t be more thrilled with the performance that I put out at this world championships,’’ she said. The medal record? ‘‘I’m not a number person.’’
Aged 22, she’s a hero to younger gymnasts who grew up watching her routines.
‘‘I’m second in the world after Simone Biles, and she’s obviously so amazing. And to be second is super crazy,’’ the 16-year-old US gymnast Sunisa Lee said after taking silver behind Biles in the floor exercise.
‘‘I don’t know how she’s been doing this for so long.’’
Biles’ 24th medal came on the beam, breaking a tie for 23 with Belarusian gymnast Vitaly Scherbo.
Biles scored 15.066 after a nearflawless routine, opting for a simpler dismount than the double-double she performed earlier in the championships.
That dismount is a sore point for Biles, who introduced the double-double to competition this season and had the skill officially named after her at the worlds – there are four Biles skills now. She feels the International Gymnastics Federation didn’t reward it with a high enough difficulty rating.
‘‘It’s not worth the one-tenth [extra difficulty point]. I’m sorry, it’s just not,’’ she said.
When her score was announced, guaranteeing the medals record, Biles leaped up from her seat with a broad smile and punched the air.
‘‘I was really excited. I thought it was going to be at least a 14.8, 14.9, but to see 15, I was like, ‘well, that’s pretty crazy,’ so I was very proud,’’ she said.
China took silver and bronze with Liu Tingting on 14.433 and Li Shijia on 14.3, respectively.