Team USA/PASimone Biles just made history yet again by becoming the first gymnast to ever attempt and successfully land a double twisting, double somersault dismount on the balance beam.
We’ve ever seen anything like this before.
The five-time Olympic medalist and 14-time world champion proved that her skill and abilities know no bounds when she completed the never-seen-before move on Friday at the 2019 US Gymnastics Championships in Kansas City, Missouri.
You can watch her impressive feat here:
Earlier that same day, Biles also became the first woman to attempt a triple-double, which to you and I means two flips and three twists in the air, in competition during the floor exercise. However, the 22-year-old just missed the landing by falling forward.
She reportedly vented her frustrations to her team mates, telling them she was ‘pissed off’ about her landing, according to Team USA.
As reported by The Guardian, she said:
I still get really frustrated because I know how good I am and how well I can do. So, I just want to do the best routine for the audience and for myself out here.
I’ve never fallen on one or anything, just to make a mistake like that, it kind of irritated me.
PA ImagesHer coach Laurent Landi added:
I’m actually happy she’s so upset because it means she cares so much and we can work with it.
If she would not care, if she would be, okay, it’s just okay. It would be hard to go back in the gym and practice it.
Luckily, she didn’t let that take her off her stride, because just a few hours later, she successfully completed the double-double dismount, proving that nothing can hold her back.
PA ImagesAt the moment, Biles is holding first place at the two-day competition, nearly two points ahead of second-place gymnast Sunisa Lee.
The tournament will continue on Sunday and Biles expected to win her sixth US title, something no woman has done since Clara Schroth Lomady in 1952.
If she brings home the gold at this tournament, she’ll be adding to her already absolutely outrageous medal haul at the tender age of 22 (including a year off in 2017).
In 2013, her first year in senior gymnastics, she won two gold medals at the World Championships in Antwerp in All-Around and Floor Exercise. She also won silver at Vault and bronze at Balance Beam at the same tournament.
In 2014, she doubled her gold medal count at the World Championships in Nanning, coming in 1st at Team, All-Around, Balance Beam and Floor Exercise. She again won silver at Vault.
At the 2015 World Championships in Glasgow, Biles won the same four gold medals again but finished 3rd on the podium winning ‘just’ a bronze for Vault.
PAIn 2016, Biles took the Rio Olympics by storm, winning gold in Team, All-Around, Vault and Floor Exercise. Her only medal that wasn’t gold was a bronze in the Balance Beam. She also claimed gold at the Pacific Rim Championships in Team and All-Around.
After taking 2017 off, and who would blame her after her first few years in senior gymnastics, Biles returned to the World Championships in Doha to reclaim gold in Team, All-Around, Vault and Floor Exercise. She added a silver in Uneven Bars and a bronze in Balance Beam.
It really shouldn’t have come as so much of a surprise to the world that she was able to make history with the double-double dismount.
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Emma Rosemurgey is an NCTJ trained Journalist who started her career by producing The Royal Rosemurgey newspaper in 2004, which kept her family up to date with the goings on of her sleepy north east village. She graduated from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston and started her career in regional newspapers before joining Tyla (formerly Pretty 52) in 2017, and progressing onto UNILAD in 2019.