The video is blowing people's minds!
Simone Biles Nailed a Move That Has Never Been Performed by a Female Gymnast in a Competition
Simone Biles continues to prove she's the G.O.A.T.
In case you forgot that Biles is the most decorated gymnast in US history, she came to remind you by nailing a move that has never been performed by a female gymnast in a competition, according to The Washington Post.
On May 21, the official NBC account for the Tokyo Olympics shared a clip of Biles practicing the Yurchenko double pike ahead of this weekend's U.S. Classic competition. Biles stunned fellow gymnasts with the impressive vault trick that involves a round-off onto the springboard, a back handspring onto the vault, and a double pike flip. According to People, the move that's named after Russian gymnast Natalia Yurchenko usually only involves one flip, but Biles is just that good.
“Simone Biles just landed her Yurchenko double pike podium training and we are SPEECHLESS,” @NBCOlympics tweeted.
https://twitter.com/NBCOlympics/status/1395761277943832586
They weren't the only ones. “MY GOODNESS @Simone_Biles," LeBron James tweeted. Here are some more reactions:
https://twitter.com/KingJames/status/1395874962892722176
https://twitter.com/NastiaLiukin/status/1395755830201487366
https://twitter.com/DavidDTSS/status/1395831624525357065
https://twitter.com/TeamUSA/status/1395763516259422209
https://twitter.com/ncaagymstars/status/1395762592862330885
If the 24-year-old athlete attempts this move at the U.S. Classic on May 22, she will make history as the first woman to compete with the trick, which is even more impressive considering the event will be her first time competing in over a year.
After practice, Biles told the press that she had to give herself a pep talk before attempting the move. "I was like, 'It's ok, I've done this so many times, I've been doing this for months now,' " she said, according to NBC Sports. In the Twitter video, she can be heard telling her coach, “I just got a little nervous on the landing.”
This April, Simone Biles opened up about one of her biggest motivations for competing in the Olympics this Summer: to represent survivors of sexual abuse, especially the victims of the former Team USA gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar. “I feel like, if there weren't a remaining survivor in the sport, they would have just brushed it to the side,” she told Hoda Kotb of Today. “But since I'm still here and I have quite a social media presence and platform, they have to do something. So I feel like coming back, gymnastics just wasn't the only purpose I was supposed to do.”
This story originally appeared on: Glamour - Author:Emily Tannenbaum
