Simon Biles aims to write more history at gymnastics worlds
Simone Biles of the U.S. smiles as she arrives for a news conference prior to the Gymnastics World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany, Monday, Oct.1, 2019. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
STUTTGART, Germany — Simone Biles has already written her name into gymnastics history many times over. A few more times won’t hurt, though.
At the upcoming world championships in Germany, Biles can break the record for most medals won by any gymnast. More than that, she can write herself into the sport’s Code of Points forever.
Biles showed off her triple-twisting double-flip — the triple-double for short — when winning the U.S. title in August. If she lands it at worlds, it will go in the Code as “the Biles.” The same goes for her double-double beam dismount.
“Getting the skills named after me is really exciting, just to go out there and prove to myself that I can do them, especially under all of the pressure that will be there that night,” Biles said Tuesday. “I feel like putting my name on a skill is really rewarding just because it’ll be in the Code forever as well as the medals. It’s something that I can hold onto just because I’m the one that did it first, so it’s really exciting.”
Biles already has two skills in the Code, a floor exercise element from 2013 and a vault from last year’s world championships.
Biles goes to the championships tied with Russian Svetlana Khorkina for the most medals won by a woman with 20, and could also surpass Vitaly Scherbo’s record of 23 for the most medals by any gymnast.
It’s the last major championships before next year’s Olympics in Tokyo. With household names like track star Usain Bolt and swimming great Michael Phelps having retired since the last Olympics in Tokyo, she’ll be one of the Games’ undeniable standouts.
But she doesn’t want to think about that.
“I feel like if I were to label myself as a superstar, it would bring more expectations on me,” she said. “I would feel pressured, more in the limelight, rather than now. I just go out there and compete, try to represent Simone, not Simone Biles, whenever I go out there because at the end of the day I’m still a human being before I’m ‘Simone Biles the Superstar.'”
