Simone Biles' double-double flips drop the jaw of her fans

She did something which was completely unimaginable and that also erupted a controversy, a double twisting double back (two flips and two twists)

On October 13, 2019, the fans around the world were celebrating their hearts out as they got their most-decorated gymnast at the World Championships. And that was none other than the every-growing and graceful Simone Biles. The 22-year-old has proved that her sport that she is completely devoted to does not have the word impossible. Biles grabbed two gold medals, one for the balance beam act and the other for her floor exercise act. With these medals, the gymnast now has 25 World Championship medals. The 22-year-old's Sunday wins put her ahead of Vitaly Scherbo, who earned the previous record of 23 world medals during the 1990s.

It’s no wonder to see such an empowered player to achieve something that no one in this time could even think of. This is because, she is a kind of person who has always been the one talking about everything. Be it her struggles with the sport, or her personal life, she has always been vocal. But what makes her ultra-special is the skillset that she own that we can call the gymnastics of a superhuman. She carries the skills on her shoulders that are just unfathomable by her competitors. She is in the game and has dominated it from past six years. Not just it, she won the Rio Olympics in 2016, now scripts the history in the World Championship.

The ‘Biles’

At the World Championships held in Stuttgart, Germany, Biles was the only woman player to get qualified for the all four events in the finals. But it happened last week when the difficulty value was awarded to her new beam dismount. She did something which was completely unimaginable and that also erupted a controversy, a double twisting double back (two flips and two twists).

The reason behind her move becoming a controversy was the move itself is extremely difficult to perform. So much so that it is very rare to see any woman gymnast performing it during the floor routine. Because this move needs to have a running start on a mat which is spring-loaded. In the year 1988, Romanian gymnast Daniela Silivas showcased the floor version of the same act. But what changed with Biles is that is tried out the dismount on the four-inch-wide balancing beam. Not just this, Biles is the only woman to complete it as a beam dismount at the World Championship, and now this beam version is named as the “Biles”.

So basically, there are different skills that are designated to every act in the gymnastics ranging from A to Z. and each skill and act is designated under that. In case of Biles, she performed this exceptionally hard act on the beam and not on flor, which is surely the hardest thing to do, the International Gymnastics Federation has deemed the Biles dismount as an “H” skills, which has the same value as the floor act. Here’s the deal then, the skill that is not just difficult for the floor act is impossible for the balancing beam, but Biles made sure to do it and she did. Instead, the act got the rating under “H” skills, which is certainly unfair.

To this decision of International Gymnastics Federation, Biles also expressed her opposition through social media, and many came up to support her as well on Twitter. After such kind of disagreement, the Federation came up with the statement where it justified decision taken by its women’s technical committee, in which it was mentioned, “In assigning values to the new elements, the W.T.C. takes into consideration many different aspects: the risk, the safety of the gymnasts and the technical direction of the discipline. The W.T.C.’s task is to ensure the safety of all athletes around the world and decisions are not based purely on one gymnast.” The message that the statement churned out was that it is difficult for other gymnasts to do such act unless they hurt themselves, and that is the reason why the federation has minimized the incentive for them to try. But don’t you think that this kind of decision points out towards a sense of hypocrisy as this was subject to just the women gymnasts and not for the men. The act was no doubt a dangerous one as the gymnast cannot see the floor while he or she is landing. But what Biles did was an innovative dismount that does not have a landing where you cannot see the floor.

Talking about this situation, then it is obviously known to everyone that gymnastics is a sport of innovation. The player must keep on trying to invent some new moves and acts in order to gain the highest points during the tournament. And considering Biles, she is the only players who heavily keeps on bringing new moves to the sport with every tournament. But for Biles, her sport and her fans are important and that thing keeps her undeterred from all the criticism that she faces now and then. And talking about her innovations then it never seems that she is struggling with the acts as it flows with her smoothly and that is what everyone likes about her.

Biles has gained dominance in the game in mere years and is practical and considers taking risks whenever needed only by adding a one more step of difficulty with confidence and a safe performance. Also there are rumors that the player will be retiring after 2020 Olympics, but no one knows the exact situation. The thing is, Biles has already set the standards of the women’s gymnastics so high that it will take decades for anyone to match up to that level and surpass her. She is just 22-years-old and she can go on for another 6 to 7 years more and she should as her fans want to see her roaring high with new innovations as she is the best in the world and is the most decorative gymnast of all time.

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed are the personal views of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Devdiscourse and Devdiscourse does not claim any responsibility for the same.)