When you have been on the podium 27 times in a World Championship, 21 of them at the top of the box, and 34 if you add the Olympic successes, going to collect a medal would have to be as routine as signing up for a first-time job. morning time. But for Simone Biles, the small but huge 1.42 meter Texan, Friday was not just any date with the podium. She was in Antwerp, the place where she was proclaimed world queen of this sport for the first time in 2013, and ten years and many vicissitudes later she was repeating the honors. The American was proclaimed world champion in the individual competition on Friday for the sixth time, all of which she has participated in, and equaled the Japanese Kohei Uchimura, who also has six golds in the global event. But adding all her medals in world championships and Biles Games, she is already the most successful gymnast, man or woman, in history, surpassing a name of the stature of Vitaly Scherbo.
And all this just three months after returning to competition after being stopped since the Tokyo Games (in 2021) when she did not go out to compete in the final of the all-around competition due to her mental health problems, which sparked an enormous sporting debate and social information on how athletes deal with pressure.
“This means everything to me. I'm here again. I'm so excited. “I have fought a lot to return, I feel comfortable and once again prepared to compete at the highest level,” said the champion with tears in her eyes. A lot of psychological therapy, many hours of visualization of the exercises and a lot of physical preparation before returning to the competition have been the North American's recipe.
26-year-old Biles will now focus on the Paris Games in 9 months. “She's like wine, she gets better with age. She has not been perfect but she has shown that she can be even better than before,” said her coach, the Frenchwoman Cécile Landi.
Biles' spectacular triumph was not the only notable event in Antwerp. So was the composition of the podium. Biles was flanked by the Brazilian Rebeca Andrade and the American Shilese Jones, the three black women. When Biles won the World Cup in 2013 she was the first black woman to do so. “Black girl magic,” said the champion. “We have taught the girls that anything is possible if you train hard,” said the Texan.
Now his mentality is different. “I think what success means to me has changed a little bit because before everyone defined success for me, even though I had my own opinion of what I wanted. Now it is simply being there, feeling good mentally, having fun and whatever has to happen happens.”
A new Simone Biles who already led the United States to its seventh consecutive team world champion title last Wednesday.
Biles hopes that Friday's will not be the last medal in Antwerp where the North American can still add new golds in the vault, balance beam, asymmetric and floor finals for which she is already qualified.
