Meet Simone Biles. She’s only 19-years-old, 142cm tall and 47kg. And she is taking gymnastics to the next level.
On Tuesday, the US women’s gymnastics five-strong team at the Rio Olympics destroyed their competition by a winning margin of more than eight points.
In the last rotation of the final, the team embarked on what looked more like a ‘victory lap’ while the Russian and Chinese teams tussled for silver.
And while all five athletes are stars in their own right, it was Biles’ electrifying acrobatics that blew the world away.
The pocket-rocket has been credited as being a key part of Team USA’s impressive win.
USA Gymnastics has noted that their ladies have been rising exponentially, especially since Biles became old enough to join the senior national team.
Biles — a three-time world all-around champion and now an Olympic gold medallist — has been described as the gang’s “anchor” and a once-in-a-lifetime athlete.
She is dubbed the ‘Michael Jordan of gymnastics’ because of her gravity-defying talents. And just like the star basketball player did, Biles also sticks her tongue out when she competes.
And she is only at the beginning of her glittering career.
Every gymnast has a signature event, and Biles is most famous for her flip-tastic floor routines. They’re so good, even the very non-sporty Mia Freedman cannot look away, and cannot stop googling her. (post continues after audio)
“Every single tumbling pass, she does a double-double on her third pass,” gymnastics writer Dave Lease told Vox — meaning she performs everyone’s hardest tumbling pass after completing even tougher ones.
It’s a stunning display of strength, stamina and tenacity. https://twitter.com/Simone_Biles/status/761921820404637696 USA Gymnastics also referred to one of her historic floor exercises in the Olympics team final as “The Biles”.
“Biles opened with a layout full-out, tumbled a double layout half-out (the Biles), a tucked double-double before dismounting with a full-in.”
But as Vox notes, what makes Biles such a standout is her physical prowess not just in the floor event.
She is a hot favourite to win the womens’ individual all-around in Rio and is she is likely to pick up a medal each on the beam and vault exercises – as well as the floor.
So far, Biles has certainly been living up to the hype around her.
You’ll want to keep watching this space because we are looking at a woman who is on track to go down in history as one of the world’s greatest athletes.
Oh and did we mention she is super likeable? <3
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