Simone Biles becomes the most decorated gymnast in history
Simone Biles became the most decorated gymnast – male or female – USA Gymnastics said on Friday.
Biles won the individual all-around title for the sixth time on Friday defeating the defending champion Brazilian Rebeca Andrade, for the title at the world championships. The win brings her total to 34 medals across the world championship and Olympics, USA Gymnastics said.
On Wednesday, Biles led the U.S. women's team to a seventh consecutive team title at the gymnastics world championship in Antwerp. Since 2011, U.S. women have won gold in the team event at every world championship. Clinching that gold medal made Biles the most decorated female gymnast in history – topping Larisa Latynina of the Soviet Union. Her win on Friday catapulted her ahead of retired gymnast Vitaly Scherbo.
She started out the competition on Sunday with a bang when she completed one of the most challenging vaults in the sport. She landed a Yurchenko double pike, which is assigned a difficulty score of 6.4, higher than any other type of vault. The vault will be renamed Biles II because it was completed in international competition, according to Team USA.
Biles returned to competition in August after taking nearly a two-year break from the sport following the Toyko Olympics. During her time away from the sport, she married Green Bay Packers safety Jonathan Owens and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, becoming the youngest recipient of the honor.
Video posted by Biles on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Friday shows tears coming to her eyes as the Star-Spangled Banner was played.
Reporting contributed by Christopher Brito and the Associated Press.
