Simone Biles is back and doing what she does best: making history.
After being put on hold from competing for over a year and a half due to the pandemic, the Olympics champion reminded the world on Saturday, May 22, why she’s one of the greatest athletes in the world. While competing in the U.S. Classic in Indianapolis, she performed a highly difficult move in the vault called the Yurchenko double pike, which had never been pulled off by a woman in competition before now.
The 24-year-old earned a tally of 58.400 on the routine, which was the best all-around score of the night. The skill begins with a roundoff — a cartwheel in which the athlete lands on both feet at once — onto the springboard, leading to a back handspring onto the vault, which goes into a pike double backflip before landing.
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As far as what was going through Biles’ mind after sticking the move, she said “I was just thinking, ‘Do it like training. Don’t try to like overdo anything.” She explained, “I have a tendency as soon as I raise my hand to kind of overpower things, and I did a little bit, but at least I was on my feet. It’s a new vault and I’m proud of how today went, even though it was a little bit rough and uncharacteristic. But it was Ok.”
However, Biles, who is the most decorated gymnast in America, isn’t the only one who has something to say about her incredible achievement. NBC Sports gymnastics analyst Nastia Liukin said after watching Biles, “You know Simone told us yesterday that she likes to let her gymnastics speak for her. Well the queen has definitely spoken.”
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