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Simone Biles Just Made History at the World Gymnastics Championships


It’s been quite the winning streak for record-shattering gymnast Simone Biles: Last month, she became the first woman gymnast to land a certain kind of super-difficult vault in competition—and now, the 21-year-old has just made history two days in a row at this year’s world gymnastics championships in Doha, Qatar.

On Thursday night, Biles became the first American woman to win four all-around titles at the world gymnastics championships. On Friday, she broke another world record when she took home a gold medal on vault (though she didn’t perform the historic “Biles vault”). That decision led to her 13th world title, which is more gold medals than any gymnast, male or female, has ever won in the event’s history.

Watch her record-making vault routine below:

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As if that isn’t amazing enough, Biles also took home silver on the bars. Despite making history in more ways than one, however, Biles isn’t what you’d call ecstatic: As she wrote on Instagram, “Although I still placed 1st and MADE HISTORY I’m not entirely pleased with my performance. I’m still trying to find my confidence. But I won’t give up.”

But stay tuned, Biles fans: She might leave the competition with even more medals as she is set to compete in floor exercise (she’s the reigning Olympic champion) and balance beam later today. There’s one more record she might clear, too: According to NBC, if her winning streak keeps up, Biles will become the first woman to medal in every event since 1987.

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Simone Biles Just Dominated the World Championship Qualifiers—After a Trip to the ER


Simone Biles is nothing if not an absolute legend and national treasure. Just two weeks ago, the Olympic gymnast did what no woman in a competition had ever done: successfully completed a Cheng vault with an additional half twist. To date, only men had executed this “roundoff onto the board and half turn onto the table…with only one and a half twists off” in competition. In other words, it’s freaking incredible. On Saturday, it was part of her qualifying routine at the world gymnastics championships in Doha, Qatar—and it was announced later in the day that the move would henceforth be named “The Biles.” But those huge wins weren’t without a bit of drama: Biles had gone to the hospital the night before (Friday) with a kidney stone, less than 24 hours before the championships.

Not that you’d know it: According to The Guardian, she “easily posted the top all-around score of 60.965” at the Saturday championships, showing the highest individual score on vault and floor, plus second on uneven bars in 5 of 11 qualifying groups. USA Today adds that that score was her highest since returning to competition after a year layoff. And yeah, she reportedly nailed that incredible vault.

According to USA Today, Biles said she’d been having back pain over a couple of weeks, and, recently, had also gotten stomach pains (though, she added dismissively, her stomach aches before a meet). On Friday, the pain was reportedly so bad that she was crawling, and joked about going to the hospital; luckily, her mom is a nurse. This world championships was her first in three years, and when she found out she had the stone, she reportedly grabbed her bag and left, saying she’d “deal with the pain later.”

She got back from the ER at 1 A.M. She also understandably passed on the morning’s practice.

“I’m trying not to move every time I do something just in case (the stone) moves,” she told USA Today. “Then I also hear roller coasters might help kidney stones, and I’m like my own roller coaster out there.”

Biles also reportedly did each of the four events all sans serious painkillers because of the sport’s doping rules.

And speaking of that vault, because she landed it in competition, it will officially be named “the Biles”, reports Deadspin.

One more reason to love her?

She apparently named her kidney stone “The Doha Pearl.”

The Doha Pearl.

PHOTO: Photo by Francois Nel/Getty Images

Simone Biles, the national treasure.

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Simone Biles Called Out USA Gymnastics President for an Anti-Kaepernick Tweet


Simone Biles, record-breaking champion of the vault, is fresh off selection camp in preparation for the Doha, Qatar world championships—but that doesn’t mean she’s not keeping an eye on what people in her sport are talking about. On Saturday, she took to Twitter to call out a tweet by Mary Bono, a former Republican congresswoman from California who had just named the interim president and CEO of USA Gymnastics the day prior, in which she criticized Nike for its affiliation to Colin Kaepernick, the former NFL player who famously knelt during the national anthem to protest police brutality and racism.

Biles had apparently been scrolling through to see what her sport’s new leader was up to (or had been up to) and noticed a tweet from Bono dating back to September, right after Nike launched its “Just Do It” campaign featuring Kaepernick. It consisted of a photo, presumably of Bono, marking out the Nike swoosh on a pair of shoes, in protest of the ad. The champion gymnast wasn’t about to let that moment slide: Biles issued an epic tweet of her own that resurfaced Bono’s original social message.

“mouth drop,” Biles replied to the tweet. “don’t worry, it’s not like we needed a smarter usa gymnastics president or any sponsors or anything”

Biles was presumably referring to past USA Gymnastics leadership—specifically, past president Steve Penny, who was a key figure in the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal that rocked the gymnastics world earlier this year and was named in a damning ESPN report as one of the leaders who allegedly helped to cover up the rampant abuse. (She herself is one of the abuse survivors.) Plus, Biles has been sponsored by Nike.

A few hours after Biles’ response, Bono deleted the original tweet and issued an apology on the social media platform: “I regret the post and respect everyone’s views & fundamental right to express them. This doesn’t reflect how I will approach my position @USAGym I will do everything I can to help build, w/ the community, an open, safe & positive environment,” she wrote.

Bono also acknowledged that her Tweet—now a topic of conversation—wouldn’t exactly disappear: “Hey all, I know the Tweet will live on but have taken it down to move the focus to all I hope to accomplish on behalf of a great sport & those who are dedicated to it… I look forward to telling my gymnastics story, my vision for the future of the sport and why I wanted the job.”

Given that Bono’s tweet carried an implication of disdain toward people who have been victimized, it’s not a great look for a president coming in to carry forward an organization and team just recovering from sexual abuse scandal. A perfect 10 for Biles, though—as per usual.

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Simone Biles Sets Record as First Woman to Successfully Complete Cheng Vault Variation


Simone Biles just did something no other woman has done before. On Thursday, Deadspin reported, the Olympic gymnast competed at the selection camp for the upcoming world championships, which will take place in Doha, Qatar. When it was her turn, Biles performed a vault that the site described as the Cheng vault (a “roundoff onto the board and half turn onto the table…with only one and a half twists off”) with an extra half twist. According to Deadspin, this variation on the Cheng vault has only ever been successfully performed in competition by male gymnasts, which means Biles just broke an incredible record.

Previously, Deadspin reported that the enhanced vault will be dubbed the “Biles” if she ends up performing it at the world championships. And it looks like she’ll be performing the move again later this month, because on Friday ESPN reported that the four-time gold medalist was announced to be headlining the team, which will be competing on behalf of Team USA in Doha.

According to ESPN, Biles’ teammates will include Morgan Hurd, Ragan Smith, Riley McCusker, Grace McCallum, and Kara Eaker. Hurd is a 2017 world all-around champion; Smith is a 2017 U.S. champion.

This is far from the first time Biles has made history. In August 2016, she became the first-ever female gymnast to lead Team USA in an Olympic closing ceremony, and only the second gymnast to ever have the honor (with the last having done so in 1936). Then, this past August she became the second woman ever to win five U.S. all-around titles, as well as the first one in 24 years to win gold in all four apparatus titles.





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Simone Biles Says She Was Also Sexually Assaulted by Former Team USA Doctor Larry Nassar


On Monday, the 2016 Rio Olympics four-time gold medalist Simone Biles alleged on Twitter that she too was sexually assaulted by Larry Nassar, a USA Gymnastics team doctor who allegedly attacked more than 130 women, including Team USA Olympian McKayla Maroney and Biles’ fellow “Final Five” Rio teammates Aly Raisman and Gabby Douglas.

In a deeply personal post Biles wrote, “Most of you know me as a happy, giggly and energetic girl. But lately…I’ve felt a bit broken and the more I try to shut off the voice in my head the louder it screams.” She added, “I am not afraid to tell my story anymore.”

Biles wrote that there were many reasons that she was first reluctant to tell her story. “For too long I have asked myself, ‘Was I too naive? Was it my fault?’ I now know the answers to those questions. No. No, it was not my fault. No, I will not and should not carry the guilt that belongs to Larry Nassar, USAG [USA Gymnastics], and others.”

Nassar has already been convicted of both assault and possession of child pornography. Sentencing on his seven sexual assault charges will begin on Tuesday, January 16, when dozens of women will speak out on the stand against him.

“What people need to understand is these aren’t just anonymous people,” Rachael Denhollander, the first woman to come forward and publicly accuse Nassar, told NBC. “These were real little girls, some of them as young as 6 years old,” Denhollander added. “These were real young women who are suffering devastating consequences now, and this could have been avoided.”

As Biles said in the closing of her statement, “We need to know why this was able to take place for so long and to so many of us. We need to make sure something like this never happens again. As I continue to work through the pain, I kindly ask everyone to respect my privacy. This is a process, and one I need more time to work through.”

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–Gabby Douglas Says She Too Was Abused By Doctor Larry Nassar





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