Over the course of her career, Simone Biles captivated the world with countless performances since the age of 16, her first international competition being the 2013 American Cup. Her first skill was coined “The Biles”  in this very same competition, her first time attempting the original skill in a meet was a double layout with a half twist on floor exercise. As she flew across the spotlight illuminated mat with the whole world watching, Simone Biles staked the first original skill in the ground of her gymnastics career. Recently, Biles has named her fifth skill, making her the most decorated gymnast in the world of gymnastics. Less than one percent of gymnasts in the world are given the opportunity to make the most of their training at the Olympic

level. Through countless rounds of qualifying meets and competitions, Simone Biles has cemented her name into the world of gymnastics and will be respected for generations to come.

Gymnasts around the world aspire to be at the athletic standard that Biles holds herself to. Sydney Davis, who is a gymnast for the Denmark team, harps on the sheer amount of work, grit, saying, “I think that you have to have a certain mindset to succeed… I believe some of it is natural, but you can’t be as good as Simone Biles without a strong headed mindset.” Davis stated she aspires to be a talented gymnast but after years of weighing the pros to her personal cons, she’s decided she would rather enjoy the less demanding levels of the sport. Her opinion being that it, “ makes gymnastics such a different sport than others. Willingly throwing your body in the air and having to trust yourself along with the coaches makes every new skill feel like a leap of faith.” Similar to Eva Thomas, Biles had to make the same jump countless times in her career but as she went up in the gymnastics world, each leap gained length each time.

Thomas floats in the same boat as Davis, her recollection of a time that she “was spending up to 20 hours a week going to practice and I felt like I was growing distant from my family. I also wasn’t able to keep doing things as well as I used to outside of gymnastics, like studying for school.” Life got difficult for Thomas and she had to make a tough decision like many other student athletes. She had to choose between letting her work in the classroom falter in exchange to be given a shot at chasing athletic dreams. She stated that her coach “ended up making my decision for me and now I only spend half as many hours on the mats. I am able to stay above water at school and I’m very thankful for that.” Having a first hand experience of some of the many challenges one faces becoming an amazing athlete can sound daunting. Especially to a kid who’s next biggest worry is figuring out how to sign up for AP exams, let alone taking them. “Being able to become a pro gymnast is very hard considering the things you have to give up for practice and to work hard every day. I decided it wasn’t as worth it as I thought to come home physically tired and going to sleep knowing I’m behind on work.”

 While being an athlete in any sport is a mental marathon, gymnastics’ reputation paralyzes athletes by metal blocks, they “could make anyone terrified to do any skill in the book. I’ve seen other girls get frustrated about being scared, saying it feels like a wall, and I can understand why.” If one takes a closer look at this issue alone, mental blocks have affected gymnasts of every age and skill level, including Simone Biles herself. She calls them ‘the twisties’ and said they caused her to be unable to do anything in the air, “I forgot how to twist and flip entirely.” While she overcame the block by trial and error a week before her appearance in Tokyo for the 2021 Olympics, many other girls had to leave their dream behind earlier than they wanted to. The pinnacle growing point a gymnast has to make is to refine their discipline as well as their mind. This along with many other factors, controllable or uncontrollable, have to fall in line for an aspiring medal winning gymnast to take hold of their dream. This only shows the battles Olympic athletes have fought for their own dreams. Fighting for a dream every day as well as competing with the best in the world only cements Simone Biles as one of the best gymnasts to flip through the air in front of the world.