Biles, Ethereal
August 23, 2018 8:12 AM   Subscribe

Simone Biles is a very good gymnast. You can tell because she's won 14 World and Olympic gold medals, and because she has a move named after her (that she invented because she was injured), and because she took a year off and then came back to win all four events (and, of course, the all-around title) at the U.S. National Championships -- the first woman to do that since Dominique Dawes in 1994. At regular speed, her power and grace are amazing; in slow motion, she is downright unbelievable.
posted by Etrigan (29 comments total) 48 users marked this as a favorite
 
Even knowing how good Simone Biles is, I was boggled at the fact she won all 5 national gold medals. That's some generational talent type of stuff. I cannot wait to see her compete at the Tokyo Olympics. USA Gymnastics should thank its lucky stars that she is competing for them again.

On another note, Dvora Meyers is a fun writer whose work I enjoy (on gymnastics in particular!).
posted by hepta at 8:22 AM on August 23, 2018 [1 favorite]


As a non-sports person I first really understood how extraordinary Simone Biles really is after reading/watching this NYT interactive profile.
posted by perplexion at 8:23 AM on August 23, 2018 [13 favorites]


I love this quote from her in the third link:
“I think I’m finally starting to get it and understand it. I’ve understood gymnastics for a while now, but I think it’s really sinking in.”
:D :D :D

It's finally sinking in ... you know.... after all those gold medals....
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 8:25 AM on August 23, 2018 [18 favorites]


One thing that's always amazed me is just how large, well developed, and powerful a gymnast's legs are compared to the rest of their frames.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 8:37 AM on August 23, 2018 [1 favorite]


So in the floor exercise thing, how far off the ground does she get?

Unbelievable motions.
posted by njohnson23 at 8:38 AM on August 23, 2018


I like the little smile Simone gets on her face as soon as she knows she's stuck it; way before anyone else knows.
posted by chavenet at 8:44 AM on August 23, 2018 [9 favorites]


In slow motion you can really see how much absolute control she has over her entire body, and see just how aware she is of where her body is, what it is doing and where it fits into the space around her.

That is superhero level stuff.
posted by FritoKAL at 8:56 AM on August 23, 2018 [14 favorites]


(which is to say the kind of superhero without powers and who does all their extraordinary stuff through a combination of hard work, hard work and more hard work, in all it's varied forms)
posted by FritoKAL at 8:58 AM on August 23, 2018 [14 favorites]


her form is absolutely incredible. I think I saw one moment in the whole video that it wasn't perfect (as she was spinning and rotating through the air upside down...) she's an incredible athlete!
posted by supermedusa at 9:14 AM on August 23, 2018 [1 favorite]




I think that a big part of her success is the scoring for elite level gymnastics. Prior to 2006, I think she the big deductions she tends to get in her routines (she stepped out of bounds twice in her day-1 floor routine, for instance) would play a much larger factor in her score. It just wouldn't do to aware a "perfect 10" on a routine with such big mistakes.

But since the current scoring model lets her build points for each skill she completes and then deductions are taken from that, her routines are built to absorb those big mistakes. She doesn't make many but when she doesn't it's big and obvious. But so many of the skills she does are so high scoring and not even attempted by other competitors she gets a couple of big deductions and still handily out-scores everyone else.

If you happen to see her standing next to her mother, you'll note that they're now both about the same, very short, height. Most female gymnasts aren't able to compete at the elite level once they get a bit over 18 because they're simply too tall to be able to flip around as quickly as they need to but I don't think Biles will have that problem. She's so good, seems to like gymnastics so much, and is in such great shape that I wouldn't be surprised to see her competing at the elite level into her 30's.

She's so dominant that her fellow gymnasts have taken to referring to getting a silver medal at any meet where she competes as "winning" the meet.
posted by VTX at 10:19 AM on August 23, 2018 [3 favorites]


Simon Biles is incredible. Apparently, she chose to wear teal as a sign of solidarity for sexual abuse survivors.

She's a joy to watch, and I'm glad to see her back, and better than ever. I can't wait to see her in Tokyo in 2020.
posted by PearlRose at 10:20 AM on August 23, 2018 [12 favorites]


Holy moly. There's so many times where I'm terrified like, there's no way she's gonna avoid landing on her head in the tiny amount of space she has left before the floor and she's all, nah, I got this. Insane. Bravo.
posted by lazaruslong at 10:27 AM on August 23, 2018 [4 favorites]


I'm no gymnastics expert but watching her in slow motion - her form is perfect. Every single part of her body is exactly where it needs to be and she rotates the absolute perfect amount.

And then on top of that she can punch out that level of perfection over and over again.

yeah, wow.
posted by GuyZero at 10:50 AM on August 23, 2018 [1 favorite]


She was really the first athlete ever to make me feel the point of floor exercises. She's amazing. She could play Nightwing.
posted by praemunire at 11:43 AM on August 23, 2018 [6 favorites]


The music in the last link is totally, 100% exactly right.
posted by From Bklyn at 11:54 AM on August 23, 2018


One of the reasons that the Black Widow seems so impressively badass in the Marvel movies is that her stunt double is a former NCAA gymnast. All that cool flipping around and stuff she does by, well, she just does it. I mean, it's choreographed and rehearsed but it's just raw physical effort rather than CGI or wires or any other movie magic. Heidi Moneymaker is just a badass.

This has led me to the idea of a movie like Kingmen in tone but the premise is that the main reason we don't typically see female gymnasts compete internationally into their 20's is that they're commonly recruited to be trained as super-assassins. They could get a bunch of actual former elite and NCAA gymnasts to be cast as either the characters themselves or (since they might not really have much acting ability or experience) the stunt doubles.

Mostly it'd be an excuse to see some incredible athletes doing incredibly athletic things and generally kicking ass on the big screen. Hollywood, call me.
posted by VTX at 11:56 AM on August 23, 2018 [42 favorites]


Thank you so much for that video, flabdablet, I have a hard time comprehending just exactly what gymnasts (and figure skates, etc) are actually doing and that helped a lot! (Also, wow, looking at those old gymnastics tapes is such a shock).

It is, plainly, devastating to hear her words about nassar, but as an abuse survivor myself i'm so unbelievably proud of her. Anyway, the future (the now?) is female, I absolutely love women with my whole heart.
posted by FirstMateKate at 12:02 PM on August 23, 2018 [1 favorite]


This has led me to the idea of a movie like Kingmen in tone but the premise is that the main reason we don't typically see female gymnasts compete internationally into their 20's is that they're commonly recruited to be trained as super-assassins.

Well, it would fit with their touring around with Cirque du Soleil.
posted by Etrigan at 12:16 PM on August 23, 2018 [4 favorites]


Watching her makes me even more ashamed of my factory-seconds body.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 12:25 PM on August 23, 2018 [3 favorites]


From Biles's wikipedia page:

Biles first tried gymnastics at 6 years old as part of a day-care field trip. The instructors suggested she continue with gymnastics.
posted by joyceanmachine at 12:50 PM on August 23, 2018 [3 favorites]


factory-seconds...
I'm old and decrepit now, but I swear even as a 4 year old I didn't have that kind of flexibility! She's amazing.

I like the little smile Simone gets ...
What I love is her beautiful big grin as she throws her hands up afterwards.
posted by BlueHorse at 12:54 PM on August 23, 2018 [1 favorite]


factory-seconds...
I'm old and decrepit now, but I swear even as a 4 year old I didn't have that kind of flexibility! She's amazing.


I did a week-long gymnastics day camp when I was five. I went the entire week without being able to execute a single move.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 1:21 PM on August 23, 2018 [1 favorite]


Biles first tried gymnastics at 6 years old as part of a day-care field trip.

I initially misread "six years old" as "six DAYS old", and it's a testament to her skill that I was actually only mildly surprised by it.

I love to watch her. The sheer power she harnesses and deploys is astounding, as is the fact that she can make herself appear to be constructed chiefly of solid rubber and springs.
posted by Morfil Ffyrnig at 2:43 PM on August 23, 2018


I'd love to see her star in a movie, maybe something like The Usual Suspects but with the star being improbably athletic rather than an implausibly convincing liar. My head tells me that the studios wouldn't let a star risk herself this way, but I can just picture the final scene where detectives end a suspect's interrogation convinced that she's a patsy who was set up by unidentified accomplices; reasoning that (e.g.) she was too short to reach the alarm, too light to break the glass, and that since the only window was small and high up, an employee must have been bribed to let criminals inside.

The detectives return to the interrogation room to find it empty, the curtains waving in the breeze from an open window, and a flagpole on the opposite building still vibrating. Outside, far below, a small figure walks to a waiting car...
posted by Joe in Australia at 3:47 PM on August 23, 2018 [2 favorites]


On winning all the golds: “I’d give it a B-plus”

Welp. Good luck to everyone else, I guess they'll need it?
posted by ethand at 4:53 PM on August 23, 2018


It's a sign that I need more sleep that I first read "Biles, Ethereal" in the manner of an old D&D Monster Manual entry.

They are obviously related to oozes.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 5:13 PM on August 23, 2018 [3 favorites]


...the fact that she can make herself appear to be constructed chiefly of solid rubber and springs.

It would explain a lot if it turns out she’s actually Tigger.
posted by wenestvedt at 3:42 AM on August 24, 2018 [7 favorites]


I don't have anything new to say but I *love* her and she is amazing.
posted by n. moon at 4:59 AM on August 24, 2018 [4 favorites]


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