After the 2016 Rio Olympics success, gymnast Simone Biles has now reached new heights. Despite having just been diagnosed with a kidney stone, Biles performed brilliantly at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Qatar on Saturday, where she recorded the highest scores for three events.
The Olympic champion successfully secured the highest individual scores. She came in first in the all-around, floor exercise, vault, and balance beam, USA Today reports. And she came in second in the uneven bars. Not a big deal for the champion, one would think! But the score she set was just 24 hours after discovering the kidney stone. According to reports, she has still not removed the stones.
This level of dedication helped the US team qualify for the team final with an impressive 12-point lead ahead of the second-place competitor, Japan
"Nothing like a late night ER visit less than 24 hrs before world championships," the 21-year-old athlete tweeted from her hospital bed on Friday. "This kidney stone can wait.... doing it for my team! I'll be gucci girls."
Afterwards, the star went on to compete in Qatar. "We will deal with it after world championships! fingers crossed it stays okay!!!" she clarified to a fan on Twitter.
In an interview with USA Gymnastics, she explained, "We had to go to the ER because I've been having stomach pains on my right side for two days and we started to think it was my appendix, so we just wanted to go as a precautionary and then we got tests done just to see what it was and then they found a kidney stone. Even when I'm walking or doing some stretches, I'm in a bit of pain, so adrenaline helps."
Biles’ vault routine featured a challenging combination known as “The Cheng”, named after Cheng Fei of China, who first performed it in 2005. After Biles added an extra half twist to a vault, now it's known as “The Biles”
Check out the move:
In August this year, Biles won a record-breaking fifth US all-around title at the US Gymnastics Championships. During the event, Biles bagged gold in all four events: floor exercise, balance beam, vault and uneven bars, Yahoo reports. Wow moves apart, she also stood up for sexual abuse survivors that week, which had garnered much attention of late. Before this, she had taken a 23-month break.
READ: Simone Biles’ Amazing Reply To Body-Shamers
The 21-year-old — with her extraordinary gymnastic moves — made a record at the Rio Olympics. Arguably one of the best performers in the history of the sport, the American defeated Russia and China in the team all-around by a wide margin and won the women’s individual all-around by a solid two points. The American is also the three-time world champ.
Feature Image Credit: cosmopolitan.com
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