17-year-old gymnast Simone Biles is American woman with most gold medals
17-year-old gymnast Simone Biles is American woman with most gold medals
Gymnast star Simone Biles has broken the record for the American woman with the most gold medals after scooping a sixth at the World Championships.
The talented 17-year-old, from Spring, Texas, won two gold medals on the balance beam and floor on the final day of the annual competition in Nanning, China.
They were added to her earlier gold medals in the team and all-around categories, as well as two first-place titles (all-around and floor) in last year’s championships in Antwerp, Belgium.
It means that Biles now boasts the most career gold medals from worlds of any U.S. female gymnast, including Shannon Miller, who scooped nine medals overall, five of which were gold.
She has also triumphed over McKayla Maroney, who has three worlds medals and was famously photographed pulling a ‘not impressed’ expression after winning silver in the 2012 Olympics.
‘I just heard that,’ Biles, who was the 2012 Junior National Champion on vault, told reporters in China yesterday. ‘And it actually blows my mind.’
In addition to her new record, the teenager, who was not even born when Miller was at the height of her success, is also the first U.S. woman to win five medals at a single world championships.
During the competition at the Guangxi Sports Center Stadium, Biles performed powerful tumbling routines, beating an array of international opponents, including Romania’s Larisa lordache.
She finished the worlds by sticking a full-in dismount on the balance beam, for which she gained 15.100 points. Bai Yawen of China came second with 15.033 points, while Aliya Mustafina of Russia claimed the bronze medal with 14.166.
Biles also dazzled crowds with a spectacular floor routine that received 15.333 points. Iordache of Romania scooped silver with 14.800 and Mustafina came third with 14.733.
Biles’s incredible performance saw her become the first American woman since Miller to win back-to-back all-around world titles,Team USA wrote on its website.
The team commented that the only point at which she seemed remotely beatable was when a bee came after the bouquet of flowers she was holding while standing atop a podium on Friday
