Simone Biles has once again made gymnastics history, adding two more gold medals to her already impressive collection. On Thursday, she clinched gold in the individual all-around finals, and by Saturday, she secured her seventh gold medal with a stunning performance in the vault competition at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Biles, known for her incredible skills and resilience, had to overcome significant challenges to make it back to the Olympics. Her excellence in the vault was anticipated after a strong showing during the all-around finals, and she lived up to expectations, dominating the event against top gymnasts from around the world.
Here’s a breakdown of Simone Biles’ performance in the vault finals:
- Simone Biles’ Vault Score: Biles achieved a final score of 15.300. She scored 15.700 on her first vault and 14.900 on her second, both of which were the highest scores in the competition. This impressive performance solidified her gold medal victory.
- Competition Results:
- Rebecca Andrade from Brazil took silver with a final score of 14.996. Andrade had a 15.100 on her first vault but couldn’t catch up after scoring 14.833 on her second.
- Jade Carey, Biles’ teammate, earned bronze with a score of 14.466.
Biles’ performance in the vault was slightly lower than her all-around score of 15.766 from Thursday, but she continued to impress with her flawless execution of a challenging move: the Yurchenko double pike.
What is the Yurchenko Double Pike?
The Yurchenko double pike is a highly complex gymnastics move developed by retired Russian gymnast Natalia Yurchenko. Biles first landed it in international competition in 2023, and it’s often referred to as “Biles II” in her honor.
Here’s how it works:
- The gymnast performs a round-off onto a springboard, then a back handspring to launch into the air.
- In the air, the gymnast completes two somersaults while in a pike position (legs straight and together, back straight).
Biles executed the Yurchenko double pike flawlessly on both Thursday and Saturday, which greatly contributed to her gold medal wins.
The scoring in modern gymnastics considers both the difficulty of the routine and the execution quality. Biles’ vault routine features a difficulty score (D score) of 6.400, and the highest execution score (E score) is 10.000. While Biles could have theoretically scored up to 16.400, her score of 15.700 is exceptional, reflecting the high level of difficulty and precision required for the Yurchenko double pike.