Four-time Olympic champion Simone Biles is on the brink of making history once again as she prepares for the Paris Olympics. Known for her skills and dominance in gymnastics, Biles has submitted an original move on the uneven bars, which, if successfully completed, will become the sixth element named after her.
The new skill, a clear hip circle forward with 1.5 turns to handstand, is a variation of an element named for Canadian gymnast Wilhelm Weiler, as reported by ESPN News Services. The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) has awarded it a difficulty value of E on a scale from A to J, meaning it is worth 0.5 in difficulty. The new element was teased by USA Gymnastics on social media on Friday.
If Biles successfully performs this move, she will become the only active gymnast to have an eponymous skill on all four events: vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise, further cementing her legacy in the sport, adding to Biles' already impressive repertoire of five elements named after her. These include two vaults—one of which is the Yurchenko double pike—two tumbling skills on floor exercise, and a dismount on the balance beam.
Other gymnasts introducing new moves in Paris
Currently, the only gymnast with more skills named after them is Nellie Kim, a retired Soviet and Belarusian gymnast who holds seven eponymous elements. Biles’s potential new skill would place her just behind Kim.
The Paris Olympics will also see other gymnasts aiming to introduce new elements. Rebeca Andrade of Brazil is set to attempt a risky new vault in hopes of defending her gold medal from the Tokyo Games. Additionally, Naomi Visser and Lieke Wevers of the Netherlands have both submitted a triple-turn on floor exercise with the leg in the horizontal position, aiming to debut these moves in Paris.
Despite bars being considered Biles’s “weakest” event, with just one of her 37 Olympic and world championship medals coming from it, she remains one of the top American gymnasts on the apparatus. USA Gymnastics co-lead Chellsie Memmel mentioned this week that the Americans might sit Biles out of the bars during team finals to give her a small break during the Games, highlighting the strategic considerations for optimizing her performance across events.
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