PA ImagesIt’s easy to see why Simone Biles is known as the greatest gymnast of our time – because she’s won more medals at the world championships than the amount of years she’s been alive.
The 22-year-old was competing at the World Gymnastics Championships in Stuttgart this weekend when she broke the all-time record for most medals won by any gymnast at the event.
Biles’s achievement came after winning the balance beam competition on Sunday, October 13, which resulted in her 24th world championship medal – however she wasn’t finished there.
Hear about her achievements below:
The gymnast’s win pushed her into the top spot for the most medals won, a record she had previously been tied for with Belarusian male gymnast Vitaly Scherbo, who achieved 23 medals throughout his career.
Biles jumped up from her seat with a smile and punched the air when her score for the beam was announced as the achievement guaranteed the medal record.
Following a near-flawless routine, Biles scored 15.066 on the beam. China took both silver and bronze in the beam event, with Liu Tingting scoring 14.433 and Li Shijia scording 14.3.
The moment Simone Biles became the most decorated gymnast in World Championships HISTORY 🙌 pic.twitter.com/iNhWS0UyYU
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) October 13, 2019
According to The Guardian, the gymnast commented on the success of her routine, saying:
It meant a lot because Cecile [Landi, beam coach] has really been working on bringing my confidence back up to where it used to be on the beam.
To go out there and nail the routine, just like I do in practice, it felt really good and I knew she was really proud.
Less than two hours later, the American added another medal to her collection by winning the floor exercise by one full point, scoring 15.133 despite a step out of bounds on one pass.
Biles’s US teammate Sunisa Lee took silver, while Angelina Melnikova took bronze for Russia.
The four-time Olympic champion now holds 19 gold medals across four championships, while previous record-holder Scherbo, who competed in five world events between 1991 and 1996, has 12 gold medals.
Biles’s two wins marked her fifth victory at this year’s World Championships after achieving team gold on Tuesday, an individual all-around gold on Thursday and a vault gold on Saturday.
A fifth-place score on the uneven bars prevented the 22-year-old from winning a medal in all six events; an achievement she managed last year.
CNN reports Biles is preparing for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, which she has said will be her last Olympics.
The 22-year-old will no doubt continue to wow audiences in her future appearances!
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Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.