ANTWERP, Belgium (AP) – At this week’s world gymnastics championships, Simone Biles wasn’t too worried about the number of medals or their color.
That approach certainly paid off.
The American superstar claimed her third and fourth gold medal on the final day of the 2023 Games on Sunday with dominant victories in the women’s balance beam and floor finals.
Ten years ago, Biles made a successful return to the international stage in Antwerp, where he began collecting 23 world titles at the age of 16. In addition to her two gold medals Sunday, she followed up her sixth individual all-around title with a silver medal on vault, making her the most decorated gymnast of all time, male or female.
And Biles led the U.S. women’s team to a record seven straight wins in team play in the absence of their Russian rivals due to sanctions imposed as a result of the war against Ukraine.
The four-time Olympic gold medalist said of how she approaches competitions: “When I’m competing, it’s like doing that routine again, like it’s a victory.” “It doesn’t matter if I get on the podium or not.”
Biles was competing in her first world championships since 2019 after taking a two-year break after the Tokyo Olympics to focus on her mental health. She just returned to her sport this summer.
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Biles was a little apprehensive about returning to the world stage, but the confidence that she had trained properly and a new, as she puts it, “whatever happens” attitude helped her return to the top and compete. It helped me break through.
She will maintain the same relaxed demeanor heading into next year’s Paris Olympics.
“I think we’re going to take the same approach that we took this year, just meet up and see how it ends up,” Biles said. her comeback.
Biles doesn’t want to talk about the Olympics in detail yet to protect himself and avoid pressure, coach Cecil Lundy said.
“But for us as coaches, that’s obviously a goal,” Lundy said. “And if she wants, we’ll prepare her for that.”
At the Tokyo Olympics, which were postponed due to the pandemic, Biles withdrew from several events due to so-called “twisties” that gymnasts sometimes experience in the air.
“I think I was a little more worried about getting on the podium, but right now I don’t really care,” she said when asked how she handles the pressure now.
Biles currently has a record 37 medals at the World Championships and Olympics.
On Sunday, she started the afternoon with a great beam routine and exuded confidence throughout. She had no hesitation in jumping, performing controlled spins and landing in style with just a slight hop. She won with a score of 14.800, beating China’s Zhou Yaqin by just 0.1 points. Brazil’s Rebecca Andrade won the bronze medal.
Biles then took to the mat in the floor final, her final appearance of a busy week. She recorded her highest score in her qualifying and impressed once again with a series of stunning tumbling passes that wowed the crowd and reached impressive heights in her jumps.
Although Biles ran out of bounds during the difficult routine, he still managed to score 14.633 points, the best score of the day. This is Biles’ sixth World Floor Championships, and she remains undefeated in this event.
Andrade, another star of the sport, won the silver medal ahead of Brazilian teammate Flavia Saraiva.
In the men’s competition, Japan’s Daiki Hashimoto, who earlier this week became the first athlete to win the world individual all-around championship in eight years, won the horizontal bars final with a score of 15.233. Croatia’s Tin Surbic took second place with a difference of 0.533 points, while China’s Su Weide rounded out the podium.
Jake Jarman won gold on vault with a total of 15.050 points, giving Britain its first medal. German started off with a near-perfect vault, and after landing a Draglesque on his second attempt, he was so excited that he gave his coach a big hug and raised his arms in celebration.
This total allowed him to leapfrog American Coy Young by 0.201.
Young finished runner-up in the pairs vault and earned her third medal this week with a bronze medal in the team event and a silver medal in the pommel horse. Ukraine’s Nazar Chepurny took third place.
After his second vault, Young flashed a big smile and urged fans waving American flags to make more noise as cheers and applause erupted from the stands at Sports Palace.
Germany’s Lukas Dauser won the gold medal on the men’s parallel bars with a high score of 15.400 points, finishing ahead of China’s Shi Kong and Japan’s Kaito Sugimoto.