New York Post

'RING' IT ON!

Olympics await US golden girl

- By SOPHIA ROSENBAUM srosenbaum@nypost.com

Team USA gymnast Simone Biles can jump, spin, vault and swing better than anyone — and she’s doing it with a smile.

The 19-year-old tumbler, who stands at just 4-foot-9, is set to sweep her first Olympics this summer in Brazil.

But she’s also changing what it means to be a gymnast — pairing talent with a take-it-easy approach that’s rare in sports.

“If I thought of gymnastics as a job, it would put too much stress on me,” Biles tells Teen Vogue. “At the end of the day, if I can say I had fun, it was a good day.”

Her cheery demeanor is present whether she’s smirking through a routine on the floor of a competitio­n or laughing off a 34-hour training week ahead of the Games in Rio.

And she really is “in a class all by herself,” according to Olympic gold-medalist Mary Lou Retton, who became the first American to take home top honors for allaround individual in 1984.

Biles wowed judges last weekend at the US Gymnastics Championsh­ips, where she became the first female gymnast to win allaround gold four years in a row.

She’s even got her own signature move for the floor routine — aptly named “the Biles,” which she developed to avoid pressure from a bone spur on her ankle. The stunt starts off with a double layout before she contorts into a half-twist and ends with a forward landing.

“I was built this way for a reason, so I’m going to use it,” she tells the magazine.

She was a tumbling star by the age of 6, when her Texas day-care center went on a trip to the gymnasium.

“She was so bouncy and muscular,” longtime couch Aimee Boorman told Teen Vogue.

And by 18, Biles was signing a sponsorshi­p deal with Nike.

 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States