Bethany Bryan - Simone Biles: Dominant Gymnast

Opposite: Simone Biles and the other members of the US womens gymnastics team made their mark on the sport, winning team gold to follow up the 2012 team win.

Introduction

Four-Foot-Eight Powerhouse

S tanding back-to-back with Olympic mens volleyball team center David Lee, gymnast Simone Biles grinned for a photo opportunitybetter known as a photo opduring the 2016 Olympic Games. At just 4 feet 8 inches (1.4 meters) tall, Biles stands 2 feet (0.6 m) shorter than Lee. The top of her head barely reaches the middle of Lees back, but the smile on her face said she didnt mind. Size difference in Olympians doesnt matter, said Biles when she posted the photo on Twitter. Of the 555 athletes who made up the American team in 2016, Biles was the shortest. However, the four-time all-around world champion went home with a record-breaking four gold medals. Today, she is one of the most decorated athletes in the worldbetween the World Championships and the Olympics, she has twenty-five total medals as of summer 2019.

Competitive Gymnastics

Gymnastics is often argued to be one of the most difficult sports in the world. It combines grace with high levels of athleticism. Gymnasts strive for perfect scores, performing gravity-defying stunts such as those done on the balance beam, which measures only 4 inches (10 centimeters) in width. This requires a great deal of core strength, balance, concentration, and practice. The main competition events for womens gymnasticsthe balance beam, the vault, the floor exercise, and the uneven barsrequire athletes to stick the landing, or land solidly on their feet without a slip or extra hop. The tiniest mistake could cost a gymnast a medal, her career, or even her life. Injuries happen often and are sometimes expected.

Professional female gymnasts often retire from the sport in their late teens or early twenties because of the physical strain the sport places on their bodies. Gold medalist Mary Lou Retton retired in 1986 at eighteen. In her thirties, Retton had two hip replacement surgeries to ease arthritis pain caused by years of gymnastics. Carly Patterson, who competed in Athens in 2004, also retired at eighteen because of back problems. Jordyn Wieber, 2012 Olympian, retired at nineteen. Competitive gymnasts train for several hours each day, adding up to over thirty hours a week at certain competition levels, in addition to time spent in school, completing homework, or even just helping out with chores at home. Being a competitive gymnast is a lifestyle and a choice that often requires a sacrifice of friendships, normalcy, and a sense of personal identity.

Simone Biless best event is the floor routine. Here, she shines in a floor routine performance that would win her a gold medal at the 2016 Olympics.

Additionally, gymnastics is getting more difficult. The sport is scored currently on a basis of difficulty. Difficult routines are automatically scored higher than simpler ones, so gymnasts push themselves to perform increasingly difficult stunts, raising the bar on what an athlete needs to do to compete and ultimately medal in competition.

Standing Out from the Rest

Simone Biles stands out among her peers because she pushes the boundaries of what the human body can do. She sets the bar for difficulty levels in the sport. She can launch herself over 9 feet (2.7 m) into the airover twice her height. In her floor exercise routine, Biles frequently performs a double half layout with a full twist, sticking a blind landingone where the gymnast cannot see the floor before she hits the mat. This move is so iconic to Biles that its called the Biles when its seen in gymnastics competitions. Shes one of the only athletes to even try it.

However, Simone Biles wasnt born a gymnast. She endured early family hardship and uncertainty before finding her way into her chosen sport. Gymnastics came naturally to her, but she trained hard for her success. Biles also stands out as an African American woman in a sport historically dominated by white gymnasts. Because of this, many argue that she is held to a higher standard, especially when it comes to her appearance.

In 2017, she faced criticism over her hairstyle during an appearance to cheer at a Houston Texans football game. However, Biles is outspoken, body positive, and defiant of her critics. In response to the comments over her hair, she replied, via Twitter, I have 1 question to everyone commenting about my hair when I genuinely look happy in the photo.. Do you look perfect ALL the time? everything in perfect order.? Simone Biles stands up for what she believes in.

In 2018, then president and CEO of USA Gymnastics Mary Bono tweeted a photo of herself coloring over the Nike swish on her shoes, in defiance of Nikes new advertising campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick, who famously chose to take a knee during the playing of the national anthem to protest police brutality and racism. Biles, who is sponsored by Nike, quickly spoke out against the tweet. Bono resigned shortly thereafter.