Gabby Douglas and Simone Biles are making gymnastics history
Gabby Douglas and Simone Biles are making history, one backflip at a time.
You might remember Douglas’ gold medal-winning performance at the 2012 London Olympics, but it was her teammate and fellow inspiration who broke the records this weekend, becoming the most decorated gymnast at the Gymnastics World Championships in Scotland, AFP reports.
Both Douglas and Biles competed in the weeklong championship in Glasgow, with Biles winning a jaw-dropping four gold medals for team, all-around, floor, and beam, and a bronze for her vault performance. Those medals join her World Championship awards back at her home in Texas rounding her total up to 10 — a record-setting number.
Biles’ scores put her in a league of her own. During her beam routine, she did three seemingly effortless backwards tricks in a row, earning her a near-perfect score of 15.358, a full point higher than the silver medalist.
But has it really hit the 18-year-old? Not really.
“I don’t think it’s sunk in yet,” she told the Associated Press. “But I know what I’ve achieved and what I’ve achieved is like, pretty unbelievable.”
Douglas, for her part, won silver for her routines (as well as in the all-around) and was still just as inspiring to watch as she was four years ago.
If this is any indication of how great next year’s Olympics in Rio will be, we cannot wait. Congrats ladies!
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