Simone Biles (1997- ), an American gynmast, won four gold medals and one bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics. She is not just the first Black American female gymnast to win four gold medals at a single Olympics, she is the first American female gymnast period.
Some mix her up with Gabby Douglas, but Biles is way better. At the 2015 World Championship (pictured above), Douglas won the all-round silver medal while Biles won the gold. But where others win by hundredths of point, Biles made two costly mistakes and still beat Douglas by more than a whole point! You did not see Biles at the 2012 Olympics because she was too young.
Mary Lou Retton, the top American female gymnast at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, says Biles is the “most talented gymnast I’ve seen in my life.”
Where Nadia Comaneci flipped once off the balance beam, Biles flips twice. (Part of why the US and Biles herself have become huge in gymnastics is because Comaneci’s trainers defected to the US. This will be their last Olympics.)
She has a stronger run and can jump higher, which means she is in the air longer and can do more. She can spin faster and land more firmly – and make it look easy and natural. Some top gymnast count to themselves when they are in the air to know where they are – she just knows. She can learn in days what it takes others months if not years.
Biles: “I kind of blow my own mind.”
She has even invented a move of her own, the Biles: a double backward somersault, followed by a half twist and a blind landing.
It helps that she has not grown much taller since 13 and has suffered no grave injuries, things that have sidelined other gymnasts.
Her style of gymnastics is more athletic or acrobatic-looking than the Soviet style common 30 to 40 years ago that was more like ballet. That comes from changes in scoring that take into account how hard a move is.
Biles was born in Columbus, Ohio. When she was two, her mother was sunk in drink and drugs and could no longer take care of her. She went into foster care. She grew up in Texas, where her grandfather and his second wife became her new father and mother. He is a retired air traffic controller, she is a nurse who is part owner of a chain of 14 nursing homes in Texas.
At age six Biles started to learn gymnastics. In 2013, some ten years later, she became world champion. Having outgrown her old gym, her parents built her a new one the size of a megachurch.
She now makes about $2 million a year and stands to make way more now that she has signed enorsement deals with Nike, United Airlines, Fanta, Special K Red Berries (not Wheaties) and others. She is charming and apolitical.
She wants to go to university at some point – and grow and inch or two! She is four foot eight inches tall (1.42m).
Thanks to MinnMom for suggesting this post.
– Abagond, 2016.
Update (July 30th 2021): See Simone Biles update.
See also:
- Misty Copeland – the ballerina, also an amazingly quick learner.
- Olympics
- Jesse Owens
- Muhammad Ali
- John Carlos
- Serena Williams
- Sheena Johnson Tosta
- Gabby Douglas
- Simone Manuel – the other Simone at the 2016 games, also from metro Houston.
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Reblogged this on The Militant Negro™.
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Abagond, since you’re doing requests, can you answer the question I posted on the what whites got/took… regarding steel?
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You also forgot to leave out her stance on being Black in a white dominated field…she’s one of those Black people to had the misfortune of believing in “color blindness”. Actually, this girl possesses a lot of “white think”.
The snub at Gabby Douglas was also not needed. Hasn’t she been through enough this Olympics? She will forever be in history as the first African American to win gold in all-around. So there you have it.
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Proud of Simone and her accomplishments.
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Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
Amazing athlete … amazing talent!!
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Agreed. This article could very well have been written by a white person who was looking to prove that racism is over by the tone of it. No offense to the author.s
Has she really said nothing about being black in a white dominant field such as this?
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The article sounds like it’s lifted from Wikipedia. Very bland. Very matter of fact and totally avoided the subject of race. I don’t know much about gymnastics but I do watch it.
It’s one of the few sports were the women get more recognition than the men. Simone is attractive and an amazing gymnast too boot. Well done.
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They performed well. It was really exciting to see black females doing gymnastics
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@TheHipHopRecords @jony
Ouch! But I know what you mean, actually. My main source was not the Wikipedia but the New Yorker, which is about as White as you can get.
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@jony
When asked about being a world champion, being a Black gymnast, and what that could mean for Black girls looking up to her she said something to the affect that she did not want them to look up to her, she doesn’t want to be known as a Black gymnast breaking records and she’s just Simone Biles (colorless).
While we’d all like our achievements to speak for themselves, that’s not reality. There is no such thing as “colorblindness” because A) Black people will never be able to transcend race. That would mean that America would have to implement TRUE equality and B) The term “colorblind” was coined by White Americans to minimize their own inherent bigotry and to undermine Black peoples experiences.
I don’t know why Black athletes and celebrities feel the need to distant themselves from the Black community to temporarily appease whites. We are the only people who do that. Meanwhile, Laurie Hernandez (and her mother) has spoken candidly about being a role model for Puerto Rican girls. She is even proud to represent her community.
But then again I’m lying, I know why Black athletes like Simone do what they do. Distancing themselves and regurgitating white speak will not only garner them rewards by the white press/public but they get to escape the wrath of those who don’t (like Gabby Douglas).
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@jony
I do not think she proves racism is over, hardly, but I do think she is a case of the “twice as good” mantra. I agree with starrone83 that she is trying to remain “colourless”, which is why I called her “apolitical”.
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@abagond Fair enough then. I guess I just missed the meaning of apolitical.
A shame that black people who gain international recognition try to remain in the colorblind camp which like Starron says is nothing but a mask for white racism to hide behind.
Amazing athlete all that aside however.
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Maybe I’m missing something but wasnt Dominique Dawes the first black female gymnist?
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The first Black American gymnast scheduled to appear at the Olympics was Luci Collins, who would have competed at the 1980 Olympics. Unfortunately, because of the boycott it never came to happen.
See https://wendyhilliardgymnasticsfoundation.wordpress.com/2016/02/05/luci-collins/
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Thanks for dedicating a page to Simone Biles. She is sooo worthy of all the praise and adulation. Despite all the medals and fame, she conducts herself with such grace, class, dignity and a level of maturity far in excess of her age. What a lot of people didn’t know until Rio is that she’s overcome so much adversity in her short life and thankfully has found a home with two lovely, wonderful people (her biological grandpa and his wife). She is not only the greatest gymnast of all time but someone that any parent would love to have for a child. I’m just glad NBC did a lengthy bio on her so the world can see what a beautiful young lady she really is both inside and out.
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Finally although you probably have done it at other times and definitely in other ways – a positive post about a black person.
your blogging / journalism is definitively improving although it was always good.
And while I myself as a African american live in and come from less than optimal circumstances ,I hold to the simple obvious universal and yet frequently overlooked truth – there is bad but not all for there is also good and vise versa – is complex and difficult but its my best understanding.
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I wrote an update post:
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