Throughout the past week in Antwerp, Belgium, the world’s best gymnasts have been showcasing their skills to the world, at the 2023 Gymnastics World Championships. Among those teams was Team USA, and among Team USA, was one of the greatest of all time, Simone Biles. A triumphant world championship for Simone Biles, and the rest of Team USA, means that the future is bright when looking ahead to the 2024 Paris Olympics.
To kickoff the competition, Simone Biles unveiled her fifth, yes fifth, original skill to the world. This time it was her double pike vault, where she does two full flips off of the vault. As the competition progressed, it was clear that Biles, with the rest of Team USA, would be on track to win the gold.
They took home the gold, as they won the team final gold medal with Brazil getting their first ever team medal being silver, and France winning bronze for the first time since 1950. A pretty good look for France, as they host the Olympics next year. USA, who was made up of: Simone Biles, Shilese Jones, Joscelyn Roberson, Leanne Wong, and Skye Blakey, flipped their way to dominate the rest of the field. With this win, USA won their seventh consecutive team gold medal, a good stat for them as they look to regain the Olympic gold next year.
A few days later in the Individual All Around, Simone Biles and Shilese Jones, would look to make the USA proud, which they very much did by winning the gold, and bronze medals. Simone Biles won her sixth world championship all-around gold medal, an unbelievably historic feat for any gymnast.
Winning this medal also meant that she has set the record for most medals in world championships, and Olympics of any gymnast ever.
Shilese Jones took the bronze, a huge accomplishment for her as she won a consecutive all around medal after winning silver last year. Silver went to Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade, who won silver in the all-around at the Tokyo Olympics. For the first time ever, the podium was all black women, greatly significant for a sport that has been long dominated by Europeans.
With event finals, Simone and Shilese grabbed more medals, as Simone won the gold in the balance beam and floor exercise events while winning silver in the vault. Shilese also grabbed a bronze on the uneven bars. That was not the only medals that were historic, because Africa won their first ever women’s gymnastics medal, with Kaliya Neymour getting a silver in the uneven bars, with her jaw dropping routine.
It was not only success for the women of Team USA, as the men had their best showing in years with multiple medals. For the first time since 2014, the US men grabbed a team medal, winning bronze in a tight race against Great Britain. They added to the medal collection, with bronze in the All Around from Fred Richard who stunned with his powerful tumbling. USA added more medals being silvers in both vault and pommel horse from Khoi Young.
Overall, it was a fantastic world championships for Team USA, and Paris 2024 looks very good for the men, and women of the Stars and Stripes. Be on the lookout next summer to see how they perform after their best showing in years.
