Simone Biles has redefined her sport 鈥� and its vocabulary. A look at the skills bearing her name
It is not enough 鈥� it has never been enough 鈥� for Simone Biles to do gymnastics.
The 27-year-old American star has been intent almost from the start on pushing the sport in new directions by doing things that have never been done before. That could continue this week when she tries for her eighth Olympic medal in Paris.
Five elements currently bear her name in the Code of Points after she successfully completed them in an international competition: two on vault, two on floor exercise and one on balance beam.
There's a chance Biles could add a sixth if she tries the original skill 鈥� this one on uneven bars 鈥� she submitted to the International Gymnastics Federation before the Olympics. Biles did not attempt it during qualifying on Sunday or during the team final Tuesday. She could still attempt it during the all-around final Thursday.
A quick primer on what you could see.
Biles I (Floor exercise version)
She was just a teenager and recently minted national champion when Biles performed a tumbling pass at the 2013 world championships that she completes by doing a double layout with a half-twist at the end.
The move looks dangerous 鈥� Biles is essentially flying blind 鈥� but she and former coach Aimee Boorman came up with it because it was less taxing on her legs.
鈥淚t was almost kind of necessity is the mother of invention,鈥� Boorman in 2015. 鈥淗er calf was hurting. She had bone spurs in her ankles and she鈥檚 really good at floor with landings.鈥�
Biles II (Floor exercise version)
Biles returned to the sport in 2018 following a two-year layoff after winning the all-around at the 2016 Olympics.
Not content to merely repeat herself, Biles began working on a triple-twisting, double flip that is now known simply as "the triple-double." She unveiled it while winning the 2019 U.S. Championships then did it again at the world championships a few months later when she won the fifth of her record six world all-around titles.
鈥淚 wanted to see how it looked,鈥� she explained afterward.
Biles I (Vault version)
As with a lot of gymnastics elements, Biles took a Cheng vault and added another layer of difficulty 鈥� this one an extra half twist on a vault originally done by China's Cheng Fei.
The vault requires Biles to do a round-off onto the vault, then a half-twist onto the table before doing two full twists. It entered the Code after she made it part of her routine at the 2018 world championships.
鈥淚鈥檓 embarrassed to do floor and vault after something like that,鈥� U.S. men's gymnast Yul Moldauer said in 2018. "You see Simone do that and she鈥檚 smiling the whole time. How does she do that?鈥�
Biles II (Vault version)
This may be the most dazzling, most daring one of them all.
The Yurchenko double pike had never been completed by a woman in competition, and few men have even tried. She began tinkering with it in 2021, but it's in the last year that it has morphed into perhaps the most show-stopping thing done in the sport.
The vault asks Biles to do a round-off back handspring onto the table, then two backward flips in pike position with her hands . She does it with so much power, she can sometimes overcook it. At the U.S. Olympic trials last month, it drew a standing ovation.
鈥淣o, it's not normal,鈥� longtime coach Laurent Landi said after she drilled it at the 2023 U.S. Championships. 鈥淪he's not normal.鈥�
Biles I (Balance beam version)
For all of her explosive tumbling, Biles is a wonder on balance beam, too, where she can make doing intricate moves on a four-inch-wide piece of wood seem almost casual.
The same year she debuted the triple-double on floor, she added a double-twisting, double-tucked dismount off the beam. She stuck it at the 2019 world championships, though she has since taken it out of her repertoire.
What does the new uneven bars skill look like?
The skill Biles submitted requires her to do a forward circle around the lower bar before turning a handstand into a 540-degree pirouette. USA Gymnastics on X ahead of the Games.
Bars is considered the weakest of Biles鈥� events in the sense that just one of her 38 Olympic and world championship medals have come on bars. The Americans even considered having Biles sit out bars during the team finals. She did bars in the team final but didn't try the skill. She didn't need it as Team USA took gold easily.