Majestic Biles extends record to 25 world gymnastics medals

Agence France-Presse

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

Majestic Biles extends record to 25 world gymnastics medals

AFP

American star Simone Biles becomes the most decorated gymnast in history

 

 

STUTTGART, Germany – US gymnastics star Simone Biles won her fifth gold  medal in the women’s floor final Sunday, October 13 to conclude her “best ever” world championships and extend her all-time record to 25 medals at the competition.

Biles, who won the beam title earlier in the day, claimed an unrivalled 19th world gold following her previous successes in the team, all-around and vault events in Stuttgart. 

“This is really the best worlds performance I have ever put out,” Biles said proudly after finishing her fifth world championships with 5 titles. 

The 22-year-old Biles plans to celebrate when she gets back home to Texas, where “my mom usually likes to throw a worlds party – whether I want one or not,” she joked.

Biles was crowned world floor champion for the fifth time in her career after winning the final by a full point from teammate Sunisa Lee, who earned silver with Russia’s Angelina Melnikova taking bronze.

“I just couldn’t move at the end, I was so tired,” Biles confessed after her sixth and final event in Stuttgart.

Her double gold success came within a two-hour spell after earlier winning the beam final with China’s Liu Tingting, 19, taking silver with 16-year-old teammate Li Shijia in bronze.

“It meant a lot,” said Biles of her gold on the beam. She had to settle for bronze in the event at the 2016 Olympics and last year’s world championships in Doha.

“I’m thrilled with that performance, it was probably the highlight” of the week.

Biles worked hard on the beam to rebuild her confidence in the discipline. “To go out there and nail the routine felt really good,” she said. 

Her victories on the beam and floor made Biles the most decorated gymnast in history, surpassing the previous all-time record of 23 world medals won by men’s star Vitaly Scherbo of Belarus in the 1990s.

This is the first time Biles has finished a world championships with five golds, but she has said she is “99%” sure Stuttgart will be her last.

The only blot on Biles’ near-perfect record in southwest Germany came in Saturday’s uneven bars final when she finished fifth, but both Biles and her coach Laurent Landi were delighted with her week.

Less than 10 months before the Tokyo Games, Biles is on course to retain the Olympic team, floor, vault and all-around titles she won in Rio.

“She’s incredible, she was here to do a job and she did exactly what she trained for,” said Frenchman Landi.

“She has shown to herself and everybody else that she is consistent, not only in training, but when it counts.

“If she does this for 12 more months, she will be very, very successful,” he added. – Rappler.com 

 

Add a comment

Sort by

There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.

Summarize this article with AI

How does this make you feel?

Loading
Download the Rappler App!