Simone Biles is the most decorated gymnast in history because she continuously performs moves that are difficult and distinctive.
Some moves have even been named after her, yet Biles doesn’t seem to get the recognition she deserves by the judges.
The 24-year-old completed a Yurchenko double pike at the U.S. Classics over the weekend.
In the now-viral video, Biles is seen launching herself into a roundoff back handspring onto the vaulting table, and then propel herself high enough to give herself time to flip twice in a pike position (body folded, legs straight) before landing on her feet.
The move was named after Russian gymnast Natalia Yurchenko, and she’s never even attempted to do it in competition or any woman for that matter.
Although the crowd was in a frenzy, the judges weren’t impressed and gave her a measly score of 6.6, which is close to Biles’ other vaults.
“I feel like now we just have to get what we get because there’s no point in putting up a fight because they’re not going to reward it,” Simone Biles said of judges. “So we just have to take it and be quiet.”
“They’re both too low and they even know it,” Biles said of the rewards for her beam dismount and the double-pike vault. “But they don’t want the field to be too far apart. And that’s just something that’s on them. That’s not on me.”
Biles continued, “They had an open-ended code of points and now they’re mad that people are too far ahead and excelling.”
Despite not being properly awarded, Simone Biles plans to continue performing difficult vaults “because I can.”
*mic drops*
Fans will get a behind-the-scenes look as she continues to challenge herself as a gymnast in her upcoming Facebook Watch series, Simone vs Herself.
The 19-time World Champion and four-time Olympic gold medalist will highlight the peaks left to scale while balancing adversity such as the postponed Olympics and the challenges of success.
“My gymnastics career has been filled with a lot of ups and downs despite what a lot of people may think, and, in a lot of ways, my career has felt like I’ve been trying to prove myself to others,” Biles said of the show’s premise. “My mom has always encouraged me to be the ‘best Simone I can be’ and I now have a true appreciation for what that really means, which is one of the big reasons I wanted to come back for Tokyo. I want to challenge myself to be the best Simone I can be for me and, no matter the outcome, share with my fans the process and approach I am taking along the way in the hope that it may help inspire others to be the best version of themselves too.”
You can view a teaser for the forthcoming series here.
