Simon Biles aims to write more history at gymnastics worlds

STUTTGART, Germany — Simone Biles has already written her name into gymnastics history many times over. A few more times won’t hurt, though.

At the upcoming world championships in Germany, Biles can break the record for most medals won by any gymnast. More than that, she can write herself into the sport’s Code of Points forever.

Biles showed off her triple-twisting double-flip — the triple-double for short — when winning the U.S. title in August. If she lands it at worlds, it will go in the Code as “the Biles.” The same goes for her double-double beam dismount.

“Getting the skills named after me is really exciting, just to go out there and prove to myself that I can do them, especially under all of the pressure that will be there that night,” Biles said Tuesday. “I feel like putting my name on a skill is really rewarding just because it’ll be in the Code forever as well as the medals. It’s something that I can hold onto just because I’m the one that did it first, so it’s really exciting.”

Biles already has two skills in the Code, a floor exercise element from 2013 and a vault from last year’s world championships.

Biles goes to the championships tied with Russian Svetlana Khorkina for the most medals won by a woman with 20, and could also surpass Vitaly Scherbo’s record of 23 for the most medals by any gymnast.

It’s the last major championships before next year’s Olympics in Tokyo. With household names like track star Usain Bolt and swimming great Michael Phelps having retired since the last Olympics in Tokyo, she’ll be one of the Games’ undeniable standouts.

But she doesn’t want to think about that.

“I feel like if I were to label myself as a superstar, it would bring more expectations on me,” she said. “I would feel pressured, more in the limelight, rather than now. I just go out there and compete, try to represent Simone, not Simone Biles, whenever I go out there because at the end of the day I’m still a human being before I’m ‘Simone Biles the Superstar.'”

source: sports.inquirer.net

French gymnast’s horrific leg break chills gymnastics arena

RIO DE JANEIRO — French gymnast Samir Ait Said landed awkwardly on a vault, and a sickening snap echoed throughout the arena. A split second later, he was clutching his contorted left leg, his tibia fractured and his Olympics over.

Said was trying to fly over the vault and complete two backflips in a pike at men’s qualifying Saturday. The injury highlighted the dangers of a sport that steps into the world’s spotlight every four years and led some to question if the current scoring system is making gymnasts push themselves too far.

Said was attempting his second vault when he crumpled. He used one hand to hold his leg just below the knee and put the other one to his head as he grimaced in pain in the moments just after the fall. Medical personnel rushed to help him, placing him on a stretcher and carrying him off the podium to loud applause from the crowd.

“It is catastrophic … our mental state is very bad but we each have a target and we have to carry on for ourselves,” teammate Cyril Tommasone said.

The International Gymnastics Federation moved away from the 10.0 scoring system a decade ago, favoring a new format that splits each gymnast’s score into two parts. The first score is based on the difficulty of skills a gymnast completes. The second score is based on how well they execute them.

Many gymnasts try to pack as many skills into their routine as they can to pile up points. German gymnast Fabian Hambuechen, a four-time Olympian and two-time medalist on high bar, wonders if the sport has become almost too dangerous, with gymnasts attempting skills they haven’t yet mastered, a stark contrast from the old system that put an emphasis on perfection instead of daring.

“It’s a pity that gymnastics developed like that,” Hambuechen said. “It’s always more, more difficulty, more risk, higher. Everyone wants new records and stuff so it’s getting dangerous. That’s what really is annoying. I don’t like the system anymore. So I hope that it will change after Rio again.”

He misses the days before the difficulty score was implemented and thinks returning to the old scale would make things safer for the athletes.

“I’m one of the guys who still loves the 10.0,” he said. “That was a simple system. It was like everyone had the chance to get the high score of 10.0 with different ways. Now everyone knows if you want to have a high “D” score you have to do these skills and these skills are sometimes too dangerous for some people.”

French team leader Corrine Moustard-Callon didn’t have many details on Said’s injury, but lamented the terrible way his Olympics ended after years of hard work.

“He made a technical mistake,” Moustard-Callon said. “He is in the hospital with a doctor now. We will give more news when we have it. We don’t know what happened, except that it was his tibia. We will do more exams to see if it is just the bone.”

Said’s injury wasn’t the only one that ended Olympic hopes. Germany’s Andreas Toba tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during the floor exercise.

“I cried like a little kid,” Toba said. “The injury on my knee is big, but the emotional injury is way bigger.”

Toba competed in the pommel horse after the injury, a gutsy move that impressed his teammates and the crowd.

“That was amazing,” Hambuechen said. “It’s an honor to have someone like him on the team.”

Many of the gymnasts who were competing in the same division were jarred by Said’s injury, but none were particularly surprised. While the dangers of contact sports like football are constantly talked about, people sometimes don’t think about the risks gymnasts take when propelling their bodies through the air.

“Everybody knows gymnastics is the hardest sport in the world,” American gymnast Danell Leyva said. “And if you don’t know it, you don’t know about gymnastics.”/rga

source: sports.inquirer.net