Simone Biles' good-luck charm: Decade-old gift adds sweet serendipity to gymnastics worlds
ANTWERP, Belgium — Simone Biles came home from her first world championships in 2013 with the all-around title, a fistful of medals and a pair of diamond earrings.
The world’s diamond capital is right outside the main train station here. Every storefront, it seems, is a diamond merchant, and the world’s top exchanges and diamond cutters are also located in the square-mile district.
It’s a draw for tourists and, 10 years ago, Biles’ mother was one of them.
“I purchased earrings for my daughter that she still wears almost every day,” Nellie Biles recalled of that first trip, which was also the last time Antwerp hosted the world championships. “I remember buying a bracelet that, to this day, I wear. It’s like a good-luck charm. And she wears her earrings at every competition.”
It takes more than good-luck charms to have the success Biles has had over the last 10 years, however. As she goes into Friday night’s all-around final, Biles is tied as the most-decorated gymnast of all time, with 33 medals at the world championships and the Olympics.
Her gold with the U.S. women Wednesday night was her 26th medal at worlds, and she has seven more from the Olympics. Of her 33 medals, 24 are gold.
“There’s no magic,” Cecile Landi, who along with husband Laurent has coached Biles since 2017. “She works really hard. She’s super gifted, but she’s one of the hardest workers I’ve ever seen.”
That might be what’s most impressive about Biles’ run.
Her natural talent alone would likely be enough to put her ahead of other gymnasts. But, especially later in her career, that’s not enough. If Biles is going to put in the work and make the sacrifices her career requires — she and husband Jonathan Owens, who plays for the Green Bay Packers, have a long-distance relationship during the NFL season — it can’t be to just “do” gymnastics. She needs to challenge herself, to test the limits of her body and the sport.
“It was one of my personal goals to come back and just see what I’m capable of,” Biles said Wednesday night.
When she came back after the Rio Olympics, Biles trained never-before-done skills on balance beam and floor exercise. She did both, a double-twisting, double-somersault dismount on beam and a triple-twisting, double somersault on floor, in 2019.
After the Tokyo Games were delayed by a year, she used the time to work on the Yurchenko double pike, a vault so difficult few men even try it. Biles didn’t do it in Tokyo but did during qualifying at these world championships. It will be the fifth skill she’s had named for her.
"People I hope realize that's maybe one of the last times you're going to see a vault like that in your life from a woman gymnast,” Laurent Landi said after qualifying. “So I think it's time to appreciate it."
Fully appreciate Biles, too.
Biles is so good she makes what she does look easy, but it most definitely is not.
Take her balance beam routine. Of the 150-plus women who did a beam routine during qualifying, only one had a higher difficulty value than Biles’ 6.3, and even that was only by a tenth of a point. Biles connects so many elements together, which would be a challenge in itself, let alone on a 4-inch-wide beam.
There are dominant athletes and there are those whose excellence transcends their sports. Like Bill Russell, Michael Jordan and Michael Phelps, there will never be another like Biles. Not even close.
Maybe someday, years from now, someone will challenge her records. But to do it in the way Biles has? For as long as she has? While overcoming everything she has? It’ll never happen.
“I’m still surprised I’m still going,” Biles said Wednesday. “Staying at the top and just pushing day in and day out is a little bit harder because I am older and my body is tired. Everybody’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, she looks great!’ And I’m like, ‘I feel like I’m going to die sometimes!’’
Biles is careful to not look too far ahead — the lofty expectations on her contributed to the anxiety that brought on a case of “the twisties” in Tokyo — but she has said she plans to go through the Paris Olympics.
By then, she’ll likely have several more medals and titles from the world championships in her collection. Maybe a new pair of earrings, too.
Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.