Sorry, I mean X or whatever they're calling that big beautiful channel nowadays. The point is, I was shitting all over Ms Biles after her choke at the Olympics and her subsequent on-air pity party. I was having none of it. "Shut up, apologize to your country, and do the honorable thing...Hara Kari".
It appears I was premature. Looks like she's a winner again. And there's nobody who respects a winner more than I do.
What I'm trying to say is "I forgive you Simone"...now go out there and kick the crap out of our many adversaries at the next Olympics. Especially the Rooskies!
How Simone Biles captured her record eighth national title at US gymnastics championships
Nancy Armour, Mike Brehm & Tom Schad
USA TODAY
Aug 27, 2023
SAN JOSE, Calif. − Add another entry in the record books for Simone Biles.
She won her eighth U.S. gymnastics title Sunday night, breaking a tie with Alfred Jochim for most by a U.S. gymnast. And no offense to Jochim, who competed back in the 1920s and ‘30s, when rope climbing and Indian clubs were still parts of the sport, but what Biles is doing is even more impressive.
She won four in a row from 2013-16. After taking a break for more than a year following the Rio Olympics, Biles returned to win again in 2018 and 2019. After the world shut down because of the COVID pandemic in 2020, she won in 2021.
Biles again took a break after the Tokyo Olympics, where she was forced to withdraw from the team final and four event finals when rising anxiety manifested itself in a case of “the twisties,” causing her to lose her sense of where she is in the air. Biles returned for the balance beam final and won a bronze medal.
Now she’s back, and looking possibly better than ever in getting win No. 8.
Simone Biles performs on the balance beam during the 2023 U.S. Gymnastics Championships at SAP Center.
She did the Yurchenko double pike on the first night of competition, and stuck the landing of her Biles I pass on floor exercise. She made an incredibly difficult beam routine look effortless, wracking up bonus points with one series of elements after another, as if to say, “Oh, you liked that? How about this one?”
She finished with two scores of 15 or higher – Shilese Jones was the only other gymnast to get a 15 – and an overall total of 118.450 points. That was almost four points ahead of Jones, who was the silver medalist in the all-around at last year’s world championships.
Tokyo alternate Leanne Wong was third, three-plus points behind Jones.
Simone Biles' championship feeling
Simone Biles didn’t really get serious about training until this spring. Yet, just two meets in, she’s as good as she’s ever been. Asked how that feels, Biles said she’s happy with how things are progressing because there were times she wasn’t sure if she’d be back competing.
Anything else she’s feeling?
“Hungry,” she said emphatically. “I’m so starving right now.”
What did Simone Biles say about winning a record eighth title?
"I've been doing it for so long, I feel like I don't think about numbers. I think about my performance," Simone Biles said on NBC when asked about her record-breaking title. "I think overall, I hit 8 for 8 (clean events). So eight, I guess it's a lucky number this year."
After her first day of competition Friday, Biles was asked on NBC what drives her at this point in her career, and she said she still has personal goals she wants to achieve. On Sunday, she was asked to specify those goals.
"I like to keep them personal, just so that I know what I'm aiming for. I think it's better that way," Biles told the network. "I'm trying to move a little bit differently this year than I have in the past. I think it's working so far, so I'm going to keep it a little bit secretive."
But could she say if competing at the 2024 Paris Olympics is one of them?
"Not yet," Biles added.
Simone Biles wraps up with magnificent floor routine
What a way to cap her record-setting eighth U.S. title.
Simone Biles brought the house down at the SAP Center with a magnificent floor routine. She stuck her Biles I tumbling pass – double layout with a half twist – like she was landing in fly paper, not needing to move in the slightest to control her landing.
She was beaming when she finished, and the crowd gave her a standing ovation. Jordan Chiles, her longtime training mate, was waiting to follow Biles on floor, and waved her hands at the crowd, asking them to cheer louder.
Biles scored a 15.4 – more than a half-point better than what she got Friday night.
She finished with 118.45. Though the meet isn’t over, this will be Biles’ eighth national title, breaking a tie with Alfred Jochim for most of any U.S. gymnast.
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