The United States women’s gymnastics team predictably won the gold medal in the Olympic team all-around competition final on Tuesday.
One of the great highlights of this victory was Simone Biles’ excellence on the balance beam, where she leaped, flipped and contorted her way to a terrific 15.300 score that essentially locked down gold.
Biles is the greatest gymnast alive, and she’s gotten there for a lot of reasons. Video is the best way to capture her power, which is the most absurd part of her existence.
Biles is 4’9, and she packs enough energy into that frame to power a small city for several years at a time. She practically defies gravity, and she does it with superb artfulness and grace in a sport that heavily values both.
She basically makes no sense. Biles now has one Olympic gold, and she’ll probably add several more to her collection before departing Rio. She is power, precision, grace and determination rolled into one unbeatable package.
Put together, and everything Biles does in gymnastics is sports art in its best form.
Here are some pictures of Biles on the balance beam. They can give you some sense of how good she is and why she’s got such a good chance to win more medals.
In the air:
Upside down:
Right side up: