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Simone Biles, Coco Gauff, and Brigid Kosgei All Made Sports History This Weekend


Over the weekend, while the rest of us were contemplating a trip to the pumpkin patch or binge watching Netflix with a bag of Halloween candy, Simone Biles, Coco Gauff, and Brigid Kosgei were all making history in their respective sports—gymnastics, tennis, and running.

Young women out in the world breaking records and making history is always something to celebrate, so let’s break down exactly how these three are changing the world of sports.

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Biles breaking records is certainly nothing new—she’s been doing it pretty much every day she competed over the past week at the World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany. On Sunday (October 13), she won gold medals in the individual floor and balance beam competitions bringing her Worlds career medal total to 25. That means she is now officially the G.O.A.T. becoming the most decorated gymnast—male or female—in history.

Of her 25 medals, Biles said: “It’s older than my age, so I’m pretty thrilled with it,” Per NPR

Coco Gauff at the US Open
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Simone Biles Is Now the Most Decorated Gymnast—Female or Male—of All Time


Simone Biles‘s greatness as a gymnast—on the mat, on the balance beam, and on the bars—can’t be overstated. Just days ago, she was crowned the most decorated female gymnast of all time at the gymnastics world championships in Stuttgart, Germany. And after a record-breaking performance on Sunday morning (October 13), her G.O.A.T. status has been cemented.

Biles became the most decorated gymnast, male or female, of all time by cinching two more gold medal wins at the gymnastics world championships. With gold medals in the balance beam and floor exercise, Biles has now earned a total of 25 world championship medals (19 of which are gold). The previous record-holder for the greatest number of medals won at the world championships was male gymnast Vitaly Scherbo of Belarus, who has 23 medals. His record hadn’t been touched for 23 years, the New York Times reports.

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Biles hard-earned wins came after two very different performances. First: her floor routine. She’s always been a pro at the floor exercise, so her gold medal in that category didn’t take spectators by surprise. The balance beam, however, has been more of a challenge for Biles in recent competitions—but she walked away with gold regardless. Watch the video, below, where Biles finds out she won the balance beam event, breaking the world record.

Speaking with reporters after her historic win, Biles said she was “thrilled” with her performance. “It was probably the highlight,” Biles said. “It meant a lot because Cecile [Landi, her coach] has really been working on bringing my confidence back up to where it used to be on the beam, so to go out there and nail the routine just like I do in practice, it felt really good and I know she was really proud.”

Biles’s new title takes on extra meaning when the total number of events for male and female gymnasts are compared. Female gymnasts can only compete in six events at the world championships; men compete in eight. Biles had two fewer opportunities at each world championship to medal, yet she’s now ahead of the previous male record-holder.



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Simone Biles On Serena Williams, Showing Emotions and Being Unafraid to Own Her Greatness


Simone Biles has learned to embrace her greatness even though she sometimes has trouble wrapping her mind around just how good she’s become. But as the countdown to the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo begins, the superstar athlete, who was recently declared the most decorated female gymnast of all time, said she’s not going to hold back or deny that she’s good at what she does.

“It’s important to teach our female youth that it’s OK to say, ‘Yes, I am good at this,’ and you don’t hold back,” Biles said in an interview with USA TODAY.

The 22-year-old explained, “You only see the men doing it. And they’re praised for it and the women are looked down upon for it. But I feel like it’s good (to do) because once you realize you’re confident and good at it, then you’re even better at what you do.”

“It’s not out of cockiness,” she added. “I’ve won five world titles and if I say, ‘I’m the best gymnast there is,’ (the reaction is) ‘Oh, she’s cocky. Look at her now.’ No, the facts are literally on the paper. I think it’s important to teach (young girls) that.”

Biles went on to say that one of the things her favorite athlete, Serena Williams, taught her growing up is to own her confidence and not be afraid to show real, raw emotion.

“You don’t have to be a robot all the time, and you don’t always have to seem happy out there,” Biles explained. “It also shows kids that it’s OK, if you’re enjoying the moment, to smile, to be happy. If you’re not having a good time, it’s OK, you don’t have to hide that from people.”

Earlier this week, Biles made history by successfully landing the triple-double during her floor routine—a move that is now officially dubbed the Biles II. And on Thursday, October 10, she added another medal to her growing collection: She earned her 16th gold medal at the gymnastics world championships in Stuttgart, Germany, after winning her fifth world all-around title.

After her win, she admitted, “I really don’t know how I do it sometimes.”

“I don’t know; I feel like it’s not me,” Biles continued, per The New York Times. “Sometimes I wonder how I do it. I feel like it’s just, like, not me. I wish I could have like an out-of-body experience to witness it because sometimes I think I’m going crazy.”



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Simone Biles Gets Emotional Talking About How USA Gymnastics Failed Athletes


Simone Biles made history twice in a row this week during the U.S. Gymnastics Championships: First she nailed a triple-double during a floor routine and then she pulled off a perfect double-double dismount, making her the first female athlete to land both moves in competition. She ended up winning her sixth all-around title, a massive milestone for the 22-year-old athlete.

Biles has been busy celebrating her legendary performances. On Monday she posted an image on Instagram that shows her looking absolutely overjoyed and captioned it, “That feeling when you make history…twice.”

But her victories weren’t the only powerful thing she did last week. In an interview before she competed, Biles addressed reports that USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee failed to protect athletes like herself from former physician and team trainer Larry Nassar, who is serving multiple lifetime sentences after being convicted of criminal sexual conduct.

After an 18-month investigation, a bipartisan Senate committee announced that both organizations “knowingly concealed abuse by Larry Nassar, leading to the abuse of dozens of additional amateur athletes from summer 2015 to September 2016,” according to a report from the Washington Post.

Before competing, she told reporters, “They couldn’t do one damn job. You had one job. You literally had one job, and you couldn’t protect us,” she said. “And it’s just really sad because every time I go to the doctor or training, I get worked on and I don’t want to get worked on, but my body hurts. I’m 22. At the end of the day, that’s my fifth rotation, and I have to go do therapy, but it’s just hard, and we try to work through it, but it’ll take some time. I’m strong, I’ll get through it, but it’s hard.”

Biles has been committed to shining light on abuses in the gymnastics world, and she’s supported other victims of assault. Last year she wore a leotard specifically to honor survivors. As she explained, “I stand with all of them, and I think it’s kind of special to unite.”



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Simone Biles Just Made History With an Jaw-Dropping Beam Dismount


Simone Biles might be the most decorated gymnast in U.S. history, but that doesn’t mean she’s resting on her laurels: On Saturday, she became the first gymnast ever to attempt and land a double-twisting, double somersault dismount during the first day of the 2019 U.S. Gymnastics Championships in Kansas City, Missouri.

Biles told Team USA that she’d been working hard on nailing the dismount. “I’m really happy with the beam dismount and how it’s come along, because if you had asked me after [U.S. Classic] if I was going to compete it, I would’ve said no,” Biles said. “I feel like in those short two weeks we did a lot of work on a couple of the events, so I’m pretty excited with how it turned out.”

Once she completes it at an international meet, the dismount will be named after Biles. It’s the third time her name will be attached to a skill—she’s already had moves named after her on the vault and floor routine.

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The move came at the finale of Biles’ minute-and-a-half-long routine, which ended on the balance beam. She’d already competed in other events on Saturday, and not all of them had gone according to plan. Biles had started the day how she ended it: making history. She attempted a triple-double during her floor routine (two flips and three mid-air twists)—making her the first woman to try the move in competition—but her landing was a little off and she had to steady herself by touching the mat with her hand.

“It was too much, and for the triple-double you kind of need to lean back a little, and I went straight up and straight down, so that’s why I did that and then put my hand down,” she told Team USA, adding that it was “the only time I truly felt sorry for myself in a real long time, but you have to keep the momentum going. “

She certainly did. Despite that first stumble, Biles, who has a combined total of 25 world championship and Olympic medals, still finished first for the first day of competition with a score of 58.650—and did so well ahead of Susina Lee in second (56.900) and Jade Carey in third (56.100).

Watch the incredible moment here:



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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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