She returned to be champion: Simone Biles won the World Cup in Antwerp

No one dared to say how Simone Biles’ sports career would continue, after failing to finish the competition at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Always so dominant, from the outside it seemed that she still had a lot to give to artistic gymnastics. The numbers indicated that she could win without demanding herself so much with the difficulty and without taking unnecessary risks.

Biles was publicly showing herself doing everything, except training. She looked happy, her wedding occupied several pages in Vogue magazine and the only clue to her professional career consisted of a response to a tweet from a fan: “I didn’t retire, I’m just taking care of my mental health”.

The reality was that not only had Simone Biles not retired, but she was also training and very seriously. It was in the middle of the year that her return to competition became official. First, internally in the United States, and then internationally at the World Cup being held in Antwerp, where she has already won two gold medals.

Biles is back. And she won as she usually wins. Dominating and with a wide margin. With her somewhat funny gestures when something doesn’t turn out so perfect, like yesterday in the floor routine. It’s just that she can fail and win anyway, and that’s really shocking. The enormous Brazilian Rebeca Andrade, a very complete athlete and legend of Latin American gymnastics, came second more than one point behind Biles. Because Biles competes in another League and makes it look so easy. That’s why it was a surprise when she stepped aside in Tokyo 2020 and decided to pause because her mental health needed it. It’s just that we couldn’t believe it because she makes everything too simple. And it’s not.

If the 1970s were the decade of girl gymnasts full of grace, the last ten years of artistic gymnastics were, on the one hand, the decade of Simone Biles; and on the other, the decade of diversity. It’s already impossible to imagine a world or Olympic podium without black women or women of Asian descent. And yesterday’s World Cup was also the first to be made up entirely of people of African descent.

Biles took the lead of the tournament in the second rotation, after her presentation in asymmetric parallels, and never let go. Later, she managed to nail her series of beams and finished the tournament on floor, where she almost stumbled in the middle of the choreography, which she was able to correct on the fly while smiling with complicity: “My parents must be on the verge of a heart attack”, she was heard saying while waiting for the qualification that confirmed her as world champion. Beyond the logical penalties for this mismatch, the 6.7 difficulty points and the difference over Andrade with whom she reached the last rotation, did not jeopardize her victory.

Perhaps at some time, major artistic gymnastics competitions will once again be defined by a few tenths. But that will mean that Simone Biles is already retired. Meanwhile, we’ve been enjoying the game’s great dominator for a decade now.