Simone Biles Becoming a Balanced All-Around Gymnast

Back in the Spring of 2013, Simone Biles was a bouncy little ball of energy and pure talent, but she was no star...yet. For today's Throwback Thursday, we a

Mar 6, 2013 by Anne Phillips

Simone Biles Becoming a Balanced All-Around Gymnast

Back in the Spring of 2013, Simone Biles was a bouncy little ball of energy and pure talent, but she was no star...yet. For today's Throwback Thursday, we are looking back at a post about Biles from before any Olympic title, World title, or even senior National title. The article notes that Biles will be 'the next one to watch' for Team USA. Indeed she was!

Original Post - March 6, 2013

Simone Biles first caught my eye as a tiny level 10 in 2009. She threw huge skills on beam and floor and was barely taller than the beam. She was a talented, scrappy gymnast with a bright personality.

Biles has always excelled on the power events, vault and floor. In fact, as a second year level 10 in 2010, she won every single floor title but one, and ended her season as the 2010 J.O. National Champion on Floor.

However, she was continuously held back in the all around due to her weakest event, uneven bars.

With the help of her long-time coaches, Aimee Boorman and Luis Brasesco at Bannon's Gymnastix, and frequent trips to developmental training camps at the Ranch, Biles continued to work on cleaning up uneven bars while gaining new skills and confidence on the event. Her improvements have been drastic.

After a great showing at the 2012 Visa Championships where Biles made the U.S. National Team for the first time with a 3rd place all around finish, Biles shared what went into her improvements on bars. "We do a lot of bars in the morning and the afternoon, and then after that it started coming along." Coach Braseco kept telling her she could do it, but she still lacked confidence. "Then we started putting parts together, built a routine, and it worked!" Biles improved from 22nd on uneven bars at the 2011 Visa Championships to 6th place in 2012.

Biles burst onto the international stage this past weekend at the AT&T American Cup, her first international assignment for Team USA, and her first competition as a senior elite.

Biles debuted many of her upgrades on each event, vaulted a near-perfect Amanar, and much to her surprise, she won the Uneven Bars title! In her post-competition interview in Worcester Biles admitted, "I was very shocked! I was really nervous [before my bar routine] because I've always struggled on bars, and then I ended up doing really well!"

While she's won numerous all around and event titles in her young career, this was her first gold medal on bars as an elite gymnast and just her third uneven bars title since 2007.

With a fall on beam, Biles finished second in the all around behind American teammate Katelyn Ohashi and will be one to watch in the lead up to the 2013 World Championships.

To fully appreciate the strides Simone Biles and her coaches have made on this event, compare this bar routine from the 2009 Texas Level 10 State Meet:

...To this routine from 2013 American Cup podium training:

What does she attribute to her breakthrough? "Getting consistency and actually trusting in myself!" The hard work has paid off. Biles is quickly becoming the next one to watch for Team USA.

Related:
Watch Simone Biles Videos
View Simone Biles Photos
Watch more American Cup Videos and Interviews