US gymnast Simone Biles makes history with 25 world championship medals
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It may be her last round, as the star hasn't confirmed whether she will continue competing after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics
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At the young age of 22, Simone Biles is an inspiration to gymnasts around the world.Everyone counts Simone Biles’ medals except Simone Biles.
Winning her 24th and 25th world championship medals in beam and floor at the competition in Stuttgart, Germany on Sunday put the US gymnast top of the all-time 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.”
It's not about the number of medals for Simone Biles; it's about the performance.
Photo: EPA
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 U.S. gymnast Sunisa Lee said after taking silver behind Biles in Sunday’s 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 near-flawless 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 medal 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.
Biles won the floor exercise by a full point, scoring 15.133, despite a step out of bounds on one pass, and blew kisses to the audience after finishing her routine.
Biles hasn’t confirmed whether she’ll continue to compete after next year’s Olympics, so this week may have been her last at the world championships. Blowing kisses to the crowd wasn’t meant as a goodbye to the competition, she said.
“It’s just a good floor routine, farewell to just the end of this world championship chapter here in Stuttgart,” she said.
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