As of late 2018 Simone Biles has set herself to be the most successful gymnast in world championship history of all time. The American icon is currently preparing to represent the United States once again at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
Biles won five of six gold medals at the world championships this week and broke the all-time medal record of 25 medals for both men and women.
“I can’t be more thrilled with the performance that I put out at this world championships. The medal record?” I’m not a number person.” Biles said.
“Coming back I’m doing this just for me and I think that this is different than the last time around, for me I feel like I have nothing to prove to anyone and I think that’s what keeps me in the sport besides love and passion.” she added.
Biles is not only extremely talented. She has the personality of an Olympic star. There is the attention to detail in training, the same casual humor that has contributed to the popularity of Bolt and, especially in the modern era, a wise use of social media.
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said on Sunday that Biles’ star status would make gymnastics a key event at the Tokyo Olympics.
“You can have legends confirming their status, as we just saw with Simone Biles, this incredible performance on beam, but you also have new stars.” Bach said.
Despite his disagreement with Biles on scoring his new double-double on the beam, her ranking was reduced in part so as not to encourage less qualified gymnasts to attempt this risky move – the International Gymnastics Federation recognizes that Biles is essential to its sport.
Many people consider Biles to be the best gymnast of all time. The only person rivaling Biles is not someone with better skills, but by their ability to stay in the sport. Oksana Chusovitina has competed at seven Olympics and continues to improve. It’s safe to say that gymnastics is not a sport for anyone but the youthful.
