Simone Biles blasts 'unfair,' 'bulls---' point value assessed to her new element for worlds
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Simone Biles doesn’t shy away from calling out injustices. Her aim this time around is the International Gymnastics Federation. (FIG)
The FIG women’s technical committee announced Tuesday the point values for 10 new elements submitted for evaluation at the world championships in Germany. Three belong to Biles and one tweet said everything about her reaction to the news.
“hahahaHAHAHAHAHhahaHahaAhahAhahahaAhahahHAHAahaaaaaaaHa bull—” she wrote.
Biles told NBC Sports’ Nick Zaccardi she’s “pissed off” and it’s unfair the organization doesn’t credit harder artistry and skills when they ask athletes for more.
‘The Biles’ viral moves score new high
Biles has performed two of the unprecedented moves before, both in viral clips at the U.S. Championships. If she performs them in an international competition, they will be named for her in the Code of Points. She already holds two.
First, the committee reviews the move ahead of time and assigns it a difficulty value. The higher the difficulty, the more points a performer receives. The committee assigns a letter value; each letter corresponds to 1/10th of a point.
A clear circle forward to a handstand with a 360 degree twist was awarded an E on the uneven bars.
Biles submitted a triple double on the floor exercise, which was given a J value. It’s worth one full point. Previously, the highest element value was I (9/10th of a point). Her double-double dismount off the balance beam was given an H.
That’s what prompted her tweet as she believes both should be J values.
Biles calls out FIG for unfair treatment
Biles compared the assessment to another, easier skill that took a larger jump from floor to beam. The full-in (two flips backward with a twist in the first one) is an E on floor and a G on beam. That’s a two-tenths rise.
The double-double on floor is H, three-tenths higher, so Biles believes the move on the beam should also be three-tenths higher than a G. She told NBC Sports the judges said they didn’t want to make a new column for a new beam value. She didn’t stop there and alleged that others may have had a higher evaluation if they submitted.
“If it were [a gymnast from] another country trying it, it would definitely be a J. But because it’s me. It’s so unfair, because, am I in a league of my own? Yes, but that doesn’t mean you can’t credit me for what I’m doing.
“They keep asking us to do more difficulty and to give more artistry, give more harder skills. So we do, and then they don’t credit it, and I don’t think that’s fair. They keep asking for more, we give them more and they don’t credit it. So what’s the point of even asking? If you’re going to give it an H, nobody’s going to try it. But if you give it a J, not saying people will try it more, but at least it makes sense to try it because it’s something to shoot for.”
Biles makes it look ‘too easy’
One of her coaches, Cecile Landi, retweeted Biles and agreed it was “total BS.” She called it an “incredibly difficult dismount’ that Biles makes look “too easy” for judges to realize the difficulty. The four-time Olympic gold medalist has long performed moves that are high in difficulty and makes them all look smooth and simple to viewers.
Biles has 20 world championship medals, tied with Russian Svetlana Khorkina, and is three away from the overall record for men’s and women’s held by Belarusian Vitaly Scherbo. She is undefeated on the all-around for six years now and is “99 percent” sure this will be her last world competition. She’ll participate at her final Olympics next year in Tokyo.
Doubling her moves in the Code of Points is more important to her than more medals, per NBC Sports. She told the Associated Press earlier this week:
“I feel like putting my name on a skill is really rewarding just because it’ll be in the Code forever as well as the medals. It’s something that I can hold onto just because I’m the one that did it first, so it’s really exciting.”
The world championships begin Friday. The women’s team final will be awarded Tuesday and the all-around on Thursday.
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