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PARIS (Special correspondent).- Elegantly standing at one end of the track, twenty-five meters from her goal, she takes a deep breath and exhales. She stops the world. The music, at times deafening, abruptly cuts off to make way for her show. There is not a spectator who occupies a seat in the Bercy Arena, the multi-use stadium in the 12th district of Paris, who is not enthralled by that small, fibrous body of 1.42 meters, wrapped in a red artistic gymnastics suit with rhinestone appliqués. Her ears are full of hoops; her toenails are white. Electricity runs from head to toe. Her concentrated gaze; the last mental review of the routine before facing the vault test. And there she goes, Simone Biles, a 27-year-old legend, like a hungry feline.
After a furious 25-meter run, with short, super-explosive steps, the American puts her hands on the ground, pushes off the springboard and flies, performing an acrobatic jump on the apparatus that allows her to gain height, she holds on for a second, spins with firm legs and lands, smiling, leaving everyone speechless. Superb! As suspected, it is a “Yurchenko with a double pike somersault”, a dangerous maneuver (originally created by the Soviet Natalia Yurchenko in the 1980s) that Simone has been practicing since 2016, which she performed for the first time at the US Classic in Indianapolis 2021, took it to another dimension and presented for everyone at the World Championships in Antwerp 2023. They sweeten it with applause. She achieves a score of 15.700 from the jury, which evaluates the technical difficulty, the execution and also discounts any penalties. In fact, he received a small penalty for landing just out of bounds.
Simone Biles’ flight: The American won the vault and obtained her seventh Olympic gold medal, her tenth in totalafp – AFP
The crowd cheers again. Biles walks confidently to the starting point for the second vault of the event. Her rivals, sitting to one side, watch her from below, as if she were a goddess. Once again, there is an eerie silence in the stadium. Simone repeats the routines and vaults; this time, on the “Potro 2″, she is given a score of 14.900, which makes an average of 15.300 that puts her at the top. She steps down from the platform and walks towards her team with a presumptuous air; she is the queen, she knows it. She grows larger; for a moment, as she walks towards a chair, she seems as if she is two metres tall. She imposes. She illuminates.
Later, the charismatic Brazilian Rebeca Andrade will arrive, the great threat to Biles for some time (winner of the same event in Tokyo 2020 and current world champion). “She put me on alert. It stresses me out to compete with her,” Biles had admitted. In white clothing and a bun, she shines. The public roars when they see her compete; they adore her. Music from Brazil plays in the stadium: “What a pity, what a pity”. But the 25-year-old from São Paulo came in second, with 14.966. The TV cameras immediately focused on Biles, who did not hide her relief (the bronze went to the American Jade Carey, with 14.466 points). The athlete born in Columbus, Ohio, 27 years ago continues to rewrite history. She won her tenth Olympic medal, her seventh gold (the third in Paris 2024), two away from the record of the emblematic Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina. But, of course, Biles has three more events in Paris to expand the story, as she will compete on uneven bars, balance beam and floor.
One of the stunts with which Simone Biles won gold in Paris 2024Santiago Filipuzzi/ Envoy
The Bercy Arena, the stadium that sparked the social and commercial life of a section of Paris somewhat removed from the big lights, opened in 1984 and has since become known for its pyramidal design and sloping grass-covered exterior walls. The stadium, on the River Seine, is quickly recognised by tennis fans, as it hosts the last Masters 1000 of the season (Paris-Bercy); but it has also been the stage for major sporting and, of course, musical events. Paul McCartney and Madonna, The Rolling Stones and Guns N’ Roses, Lady Gaga and Jennifer Lopez were just some of the artists who thrilled the public. Biles also joins the illustrious list with her art. Her performances in Paris are followed by personalities such as Tom Cruise, Zinedine Zidane, model Kendall Jenner, Serena Williams, millionaire Bill Gates and film director Spike Lee.
Paris 2024 may be the last time Biles’ fans see her perform her signature vault. The American said after the competition that she probably wouldn’t do it again, though she left the door open to a chance at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. “The next Games are at home, so you never know. But I’m getting really old,” she said, still smiling.
Biles’ smile reveals her brilliant tooth afp – AFP
Four-time Olympic champion in Rio de Janeiro 2016, Biles is back in the elite of artistic gymnastics after the complex Olympic Games she experienced in Tokyo. Longed for as one of the great figures of the Japanese event, she was emotionally diminished by the uncontrollable “twisties”, the dangerous losses of the notion of space that did not allow her to compete safely and conventionally. In the end, she had to withdraw from most of the events and her case, so popular, opened the debate on the mental health of athletes, a subject considered taboo for a long time. There were countless comments that deeply affected her. But they did not knock her down.
Brazilian Rebeca Andrade had a sensational performance, but it was not enough to beat BilesSantiago Filipuzzi/ Enviado
At the time, current Ohio Senator JD Vance, Donald Trump’s presidential running mate, criticized Biles, saying she had shown weakness by withdrawing from Tokyo 2020. “The fact that we try to praise people, not for their moments of strength, not for their moments of heroism, but for their weaker moments, makes our, shall we say, therapeutic society look very bad,” said Vance, who was running for the Senate at the time. Today, when Biles is a model of resilience, Trump’s opponents bring up those words from Vance, who served in the US Marine Corps in the Iraq war.
Rebeca Andrade, silver medal; Simone Biles, gold Santiago Filipuzzi/ Envoy
Fortunately, those malicious words (and so many others) did not derail Biles. Far from the brilliance that shines when she competes, the athlete has a very delicate personal history. The biological daughter of Shanon Biles and Kelvin Clemins, two people addicted to drugs and alcohol, she was the third of four siblings (Tavon, Ashley and Adria). When she was three years old, her mother lost custody of her and her siblings due to addictions. Over the next three years, the children were passed from one orphanage to another, until their maternal grandparents made the decision to adopt them. As if that were not enough trauma, Biles was one of the many victims of abuse by the doctor of the American gymnastics team, Larry Nassar, who has already been convicted. Despite everything, Biles did not collapse. She is still standing (and flying), marveling, having fun. She is an angel that no one can stop.
Conocé The Trust Project
