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Gymnastics elements named after Simone Biles

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There are currently five elements in the women's artistic gymnastics (WAG) Code of Points named after American gymnast Simone Biles: two on vault, one on balance beam, and two on floor exercise.

Vault

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Biles

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Biles debuted her vault, a roundoff, back handspring with half turn entry; front stretched somersault with 2 twists (an upgrade from the Cheng) at the selection camp for the 2018 World Championships.[1] During qualifications at the 2018 World Championships Biles successfully landed the new vault [2] and it was therefore named after her and assigned a difficulty value of 6.4, tying it as the second-most difficult vault in WAG with the Produnova, then valued at 6.4.[3] It has since been downgraded to a value of 6.0, as has the Produnova, keeping them tied for the second-most difficult vault in WAG. As of December 2024, Biles is the only woman who has performed the Biles vault.

Biles II

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At the 2021 U.S. Classic Biles debuted a Yurchenko double pike vault, which no woman had ever competed before.[4] She submitted the skill to be added to the code of points at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. It was assigned a temporary difficulty of 6.6, which would make it the most difficult vault in Women's Artistic Gymnastics.[5] However, Biles did not perform the vault as she withdrew from most event finals after experiencing "the twisties", a psychological phenomenon causing a gymnast to lose air awareness while performing twisting elements, throughout the Olympics.[6]

At the 2023 World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium, Biles successfully completed the vault. It was assigned a difficulty of 6.4, making it the most difficult move on this apparatus in WAG. Biles incurred a neutral deduction of 0.5 for having her coach on the mat as a spotter for safety.[7]

Balance beam

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Biles

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Biles first started training the double-twisting double-tucked salto backwards dismount off of the balance beam in 2013;[8] however she never performed it during the 2013–16 quad including the Olympics. Prior to making her comeback Biles posted a video, teasing new upgrades including the double-double dismount off of the balance beam.[9] Biles debuted the new dismount at the 2019 U.S. National Championships.[10] She submitted it as a new skill at the 2019 World Championships where it was given the rating H, the highest rating of any skill performed on the balance beam. Biles expressed disappointment at the skill being undervalued, citing similar maneuvers on different apparatuses and their ratings:[11]

"The full-in (full-twisting (1/1) double tucked salto backwards) is an E on floor and a G on beam. That's a two-tenths rise. The double-double on floor is H, three-tenths higher, so Biles believes the move on the beam should also be three-tenths higher than a G."

USA Gymnastics backed Biles, also expressing that the skill did not receive the rating it merited;[12] during domestic events over the summer, USAG assigned the skill a provisional I rating.[13] The FIG explained that the reason for the lower than expected rating is due to safety concerns due to the "added risk in landing of double saltos for Beam dismounts (with/without twists), including a potential landing on the neck."[14] Many people made counterpoints to the FIG's concern over safety. British gymnast Ruby Harrold made the point that FIG does not "allow a warm-up immediately prior to event finals"[15] and others cited how Jamaican gymnast Danusia Francis has frequently been denied being able to have an extra mat to make her balance beam dismount safer.[16] Some argued that Biles was being penalized for being able to safely perform skills that are so difficult that it would be reckless for other gymnasts to even attempt them.[17] However, others noted that Biles is not the first gymnast to have a skill undervalued by the FIG Women's Technical Committee and that several of her other eponymous skills are rated correctly.[18] While the skill was not rated as highly as Biles hoped, it remains the highest-valued skill on balance beam in the Code of Points.

Despite the rating controversy, Biles successfully performed the new dismount during qualifications at the 2019 World Championships and the skill was therefore named after her.[19]

Floor exercise

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Biles

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Biles debuted her new floor exercise skill, a double layout with a half twist, at podium training for the 2013 U.S. Classic, eight years after London Phillips completed it domestically in 2005.[20] Biles was able to successfully complete the skill at the 2013 World Championships and the skill was therefore named after her.[21] Six years later Trinity Thomas performed the Biles successfully at the 2019 U.S. National Championships, becoming the third woman to complete the skill. Gabrielle Clark completed the Biles in 2021 at the LA Gold gymnastic meet in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

At the 2023 World Championships, Hillary Heron of Panama became the first gymnast to perform one of Biles' named skills at a major international competition.[22]

Gymnasts who have completed the Biles (FX)

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As of December 2024, five gymnasts have completed the Biles on floor exercise.

Biles II

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Biles started training a triple-twisting double-tucked salto backwards (upgraded from a Silivas) in 2013.[24] In 2019, she performed it at the U.S. Classic during podium training but not the competition.[25] The first time Biles completed the maneuver in competition was at the 2019 U.S. National Championships, joining male gymnasts Ri Jong Song of North Korea and Kenzo Shirai and Kohei Uchimura, both of Japan.[26] Biles completed the skill during qualification at the 2019 World Championships, and it was therefore named after her. It was given the rating J, making it the highest rated skill across all apparatuses in Women's Artistic Gymnastics.[19]

No other woman had completed the skill as of December 2024, although American gymnasts Jade Carey and MyKayla Skinner have posted videos of them training the skill.[27][28] During podium training at the 2021 U.S. Classic, Carey performed the laid-out version of this skill, which she submitted to be added to the code of points at the 2020 Olympic Games. It was assigned a difficulty of K, but Carey never competed the skill during competition.[5]

References

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  1. ^ "ICYMI, Simone Biles Dropped A Game-Changing New Vault At This Week's Selection Camp". Team USA. October 13, 2018. Archived from the original on October 13, 2018.
  2. ^ "Simone Biles Gets A Vault Named After Her Just 24 Hours After Going To The ER For A Kidney Stone". Deadspin. October 27, 2018.
  3. ^ "Simone Biles' New Vault Will Destroy the Competition". Slate. October 29, 2018.
  4. ^ "Stop everything you're doing and watch Simone Biles' Yurchenko double pike vault". ESPN. May 21, 2021. Archived from the original on May 21, 2021. Retrieved May 21, 2021.
  5. ^ a b "Six new women's elements submitted at Tokyo 2020". International Gymnastics Federation. July 23, 2021.
  6. ^ Reeve, Elle (July 28, 2021). "Simone Biles and 'the twisties': How fear affects the mental health and physical safety of gymnasts". CNN.
  7. ^ "Simone Biles performs historic vault at world gymnastics championships". NBC News. October 2, 2023.
  8. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Simone Biles- Double double beam dismount. YouTube.
  9. ^ "Simone Biles Has Some New Tricks". Deadspin. April 23, 2018.
  10. ^ "Simone Biles just became the first gymnast to land a double-double dismount, and it's incredible". CNN. August 10, 2019.
  11. ^ "Simone Biles blasts 'unfair,' 'bulls---' point value assessed to her new element for worlds". Yahoo! Sports. October 3, 2019.
  12. ^ USA Gymnastics [@USAGym] (October 4, 2019). "USA Gymnastics statement regarding the double-double beam dismount valuation" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  13. ^ Bregman, Scott (May 22, 2021). "Fact check: No, Simone Biles' elements aren't banned". Olympic Channel.
  14. ^ "Statement on the value of Simone Biles' submitted original element on Balance Beam". International Gymnastics Federation. October 4, 2019.
  15. ^ Ruby Harrold [@RubyHarrold] (October 6, 2019). "This is hilarious bc you condemn this as "recklessness" but don't allow a warm-up immediately prior to event finals ??" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  16. ^ Danusia Francis [@danusiafrancis] (April 4, 2019). "When your praying to the gym Gods for FIG to allow you to have an extra mat for your beam dismount" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  17. ^ Armour, Nancy (October 4, 2019). "Opinion: Simone Biles penalized for having skills other gymnasts can't pull off". USA Today.
  18. ^ Meyers, Dvora (October 8, 2019). "Why Simone Biles is even better than her scores tell". The Guardian.
  19. ^ a b "Simone Biles gets two more skills named after her at gymnastics worlds". The Guardian. October 5, 2019.
  20. ^ "Simone Biles' New Skill – Check Out Who Performed This Eight Years Ago! And Some Pre-Meet Thoughts On The U.S. Classic". American Gymnast. 27 July 2013.
  21. ^ "Simone Biles Wins World All Around Title". FloGymnastics. September 25, 2013.
  22. ^ "This Panamanian Gymnast Managed to Do Something Only Simone BiIes Has Ever Done". Remezcla. 2 October 2023.
  23. ^ @brazilgymm (September 10, 2023). "THE BILES -Hillary Soto 🇵🇦" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  24. ^ "Simone Biles: Triple Double Tumbling Pass!". FloGymnastics. July 24, 2013.
  25. ^ "Simone Biles Could Become First Woman to Do This Difficult Gymnastics Movement in Competition". People. July 23, 2019.
  26. ^ "Simone Biles Has Changed Gymnastics Forever". Slate. August 12, 2019.
  27. ^ "Gymnast Jade Carey Steps Up To Show A Triple-Double Of Her Own In Training Video". Team USA. August 21, 2019. Archived from the original on October 7, 2019.
  28. ^ "In The United States Of Triple-Doubles, MyKayla Skinner Is The Latest To Show Landmark Gymnastics Skill". Team USA. September 2, 2019. Archived from the original on September 3, 2019.
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