Simone Biles wins her 5th all-around World Championships title

iStock(NEW YORK) — American gymnast Simone Biles has made history once again.

The 22-year-old won the individual all-around title at the 22nd World Championships Thursday.

The win is her fifth world all-around title and her 22nd world medal.

Biles scored 58.99 points across the balance beam, floor, vault and uneven bars, beating second-place finisher Tan Xijing of China by 2.1 points. The win broke Biles’ own record for women’s record margin of victory.

The next closest Team USA finisher was 16-year-old Sunisa Lee, who finished in eighth place with 55.63 total points.

Earlier this week Biles and Lee helped lead Team USA to its fifth consecutive world championship title — finishing almost six full points ahead of second-place Russia.

The win gave Biles her 21st world medal and the female record for most world gymnastics championships medals.

The four-time Olympic gold medalist struck not one but two signature moves: the double-double dismount on the balance beam and triple-double on the floor, both of which will be named after Biles.

Both are also performances that the International Gymnast Federation (FIG) even found controversial for the added safety risk.

Before the competition began, controversy ensued when FIG announced that Biles’ beam dismount would be valued as an “H,” when it had been widely expected that a skill of such difficulty would be valued higher, as an “I” or a “J.”

When questioned why FIG decided to give the dismount what was considered to be a lower value, the federation released a statement, essentially calling the skill a safety risk for other gymnasts to attempt.

The backlash from Biles’ camp after FIG’s value was announced was swift, with Biles tweeting out that the ruling was “bulls–t.” Her coach, Cecile Landi, tweeted the decision was “#totalbs.”

USA Gymnastics, the sport’s governing body, also released a statement on Biles’ dismount, saying, “USA Gymnastics respectfully disagrees with the value assigned to the balance beam dismount.”

Copyright © 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

Share on facebook
Facebook
Share on twitter
Twitter
Share on linkedin
LinkedIn
Share on email
Email
Share on print
Print