Simone Biles had already tumbled her way into our hearts in 2013 when she became the first Black woman to win the all-around title at her first world gymnastics competition. Yesterday, she reminded us why she is the best in the sport. A video posted on Twitter by NBC Olympics showed the athlete landing the Yurchenko Double Pike. A female gymnast has never performed the move.
Biles, an Olympic gymnast, is practicing for the upcoming Tokyo games that were supposed to occur last year but were pushed back due to the coronavirus. In the video, the 4-foot-9-inch talent can be heard telling her coach that she was nervous about whether or not she could stick the landing…after she stuck the landing almost perfectly.
“I just got a little nervous on the landing,” she said.
Simone Biles just landed her Yurchenko double pike in podium training and we are SPEECHLESS. 😮 #USClassic@Simone_Biles @OnHerTurf pic.twitter.com/S9YsasXoXu
— #TokyoOlympics (@NBCOlympics) May 21, 2021
So, just what does this flip entail? The Yurchenko double pike is a vault move that includes a round-off onto the springboard, a back handspring onto the vault, and ends with a piked double backflip to the landing. In short, when Biles landed this flip, she did that!
It is good to have Biles back. She took a brief sabbatical from gymnastics after she revealed in 2018 that she was one of the victims of Larry Nassar. Nassar was the team doctor for USA Gymnastics. In January 2018, he pleaded guilty to 10 counts of sexual assault and received 40 to 175 years in prison. He also received 60 years for child pornography.
Simone Biles is the most decorated American gymnast with a total of 30 Olympic and World Championship medals. In 2019, she was named the AP Female Athlete of the Year. She was also the first woman to win four straight United States all-around titles.
We cannot wait to see her win in Tokyo!
