The greatest gymnast just twisted out of the Olympics and into sporting glory10 min read

Part 2 of this story is available. Click on the next page at the bottom of this article.

Last week, the world of muscular and unbeatable Olympians was turned on its head. Simone Biles, arguably the world’s best gymnast to have ever existed, walked away from all the records she was undoubtedly about to shatter? Why did she do that, you ask?

Well, Simone Biles got the twisties, and she knew that she had to put her own mental health before her gymnastics performance. 

What? 

Alright, alright! Let’s break it down.

Gymnastics

Well, Simone Biles got the twisties, and she knew that she had to put her own mental health before her gymnastics performance. 

Gymnastics is a sport where sportspeople perform incredibly challenging exercises that display their supreme coordination and strength. The gymnasts perform mind-bogglingly gravity-defying jumps and twists to score points and win medals. As beautiful as what they do may look, gymnastics is up there on the danger scale (one fall and you could beak your neck) and to top that, it’s incredibly difficult.

Yup, incredibly difficult!

Awe-inspiringly incredible

Uncertain if we belong to the same species-ly incredible 

Simone Biles

Well, Simone Biles got the twisties, and she knew that she had to put her own mental health before her gymnastics performance. 

Before we find out what these mysterious twisties are, let’s get acquainted with the force that is: Simone Biles. Simone Biles is a 24-year-old gymnast from the United States of America who has shattered all records and has several gold medals to her name. Here is a list of some of the most dazzling facts about Simone Biles. 

“I’m not the next Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps – I’m the first Simone Biles.”

Simone Biles

Simone Biles became a world champion at the young age of 16.

Since Simone Biles is only four feet and eight inches tall, her body is perfect for gymnastics (shorter people have a lower centre of gravity and that gives them an advantage when it comes to riding their balance). Not only is Simone physically built to be a gymnast, all the hard work that she puts in makes her an unmatched force. 

Biles is able to inject unbridled imagination into her gymnastics. In fact, two new gymnastics skills were named after Simone at the last Olympics in 2016!

Some of the moves that Simone Biles has invented have been banned from professional gymnastics because of how challenging and dangerous they could be for the other gymnasts.

Simone Biles is afraid of bees. Sure, Simone’s accomplishments on balance beams and gymnastics mats may make us believe that she is somehow superhuman. But it is important to remember that even someone as decorated as Simone Biles is, after all, only human. She too, has a complex life going on behind all her gymnastic capabilities.

The entire gymnastics scoring system had to be adjusted for Simone Biles. She now gets fewer points than the impossible moves she performs deserve to ensure that the gap between Simone and the other gymnasts isn’t too wide.

She is the first woman in the world to successfully attempt the ‘Yurchenko Double Pike’. Watch the magnificent move here.

How does the fact that Simone Biles is afraid of bees make you feel?
Why is it important to remind ourselves that athletes are human beings like us at the end of the day?
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Woah! That was a lot to take in. Pause, and come back to find out what happened to Simone Biles in this year’s Olympics.