Simone Biles: The queen of Rio

For the past three years, she's won every all-around competition she’s entered.

Hassan Sardar | August 13, 2016

Ever heard of Nadia Elena Comăneci? Well, every single time I found myself watching a women gymnastic event at any of the Olympics, I have unfailingly been reminded of her by my dad who was a huge fan of this Romanian athlete who along with her five gold medal haul was the first one to be awarded a perfect score of 10 at an Olympiad.

30th July 1980: Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci at the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games.Photo: Central Press/Getty Images

Guess what? We have got a Nadia Comăneci for our generation now!

Stunning performance: Simone Biles, one fifth of the Fierce Five, competes on the floor during the women's qualifications.Photo: Reuters

Biles performs on the balance beam during the artistic gymnastics women's qualification.Photo: AP

Remember Usain Bolt, well he is so last Olympics now. We have got a new poster athlete for these games and it’s a woman – let’s just pretend that the timeless Michael Phelps does not exist at all.

Not just gymnastics, standing at four feet nine inches tall, American Simone Biles is arguably destined to be one of the greatest ‘Olympian’ ever in the history of the quadrennial event.

The gymnast, pictured, even has her own move - The Biles - a double flip with a half twist which she lands blind.Photo: AFP/Getty

The pocket rocket from Columbus, Ohio, produced a stunning performance to win the women’s all-around event in Rio. This was her second Olympic medal following her dominating performance to win gold for team USA in women’s team all-around.

United States' Simone Biles bites her gold medal for the artistic gymnastics women's individual all-around final at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, Aug. 11, 2016.Photo: AP/Dmitri Lovetsky

United States' Simone Biles performs on the floor during the artistic gymnastics women's qualification at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.Photo: AP

She landed the best vault, beam and floor routines, leading the US quintuple to win by a huge margin of more than eight points. It was the largest margin of victory since the “Perfect 10” scoring system was replaced by the current open-ended scoring method in 2006.

Today’s Olympic scoring system is hugely different, as gymnasts now start with a maximum number of points based on the difficulty of their routines, then face deductions from an execution score based on any mistakes the judges find in their performances. The final score for each apparatus is the sum of the execution and difficulty scores.

United States' Simone Biles performs on the balance beam during the artistic gymnastics women's qualification.Photo: AP

Biles is already the most successful woman in the history of the world championships with 10 gold medals in the last three years and with a possibility of total five at Olympics ’16 she is already on her way to sporting immortality. But current-gender biasness aside, is Simone actually better than Nadia?

United States' Simone Biles performs on the balance beam during the artistic gymnastics women's individual all-around final at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, Aug. 11, 2016.Photo: AP/Dmitri Lovetsky

The 19-year-old did lose top spot momentarily after her second rotation on the uneven bars.Photo: AFP/ Getty

The 4ft 8ins gymnast scored an incredible 62.198 points and blew her competition awayPhoto: Getty Images

So while the American acrobat might not be able to match the Romanian superstar’s perfect 10 (largely owing to the reformed scoring system) she is definitely at par with her as far as performance is concerned.




While Comăneci dazzled with her graceful movements in Montreal, it’s the power Biles brings to the sport that’s been driving the crowds crazy in Rio.


Biles’s signature event is the floor routine, a supreme display of her strength and stamina. But what makes the pocked sized dynamo a-once-in-a-lifetime gymnast is that she’s not just superior on the floor, her acrobatic prowess on the balance beam and the vault is also matchless.

United States' Simone Biles performs on the balance beam during the artistic gymnastics women's individual all-around final at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, Aug. 11, 2016.Photo: AP/Rebecca Blackwell



But what’s most impressive about Biles is the fact that for the past three years, she’s consistently lived up to her hype. She’s gone out and won every all-around competition she’s entered.

Simone Biles is one of the greatest athletes this world will ever see. If you have not seen her already you should be thankful you have got a few more chances to see that greatness in action later this week.

USA's Simone Biles won the gold medal in the women's individual all-round gymnastics final.Photo: Getty Images

The best of things truly come in the smallest of packages.







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WRITTEN BY:
Hassan Sardar The author is an aspiring filmmaker and a diehard Liverpool fan. He also teaches Screenwriting and Cinematography, and loves tattoos and flip-flops. He tweets as @CineSardar (https://twitter.com/CineSardar)
The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

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