Simone Biles isn’t just a gymnast — she’s a phenomenon. Fans know it. Gymnastics lovers swear by it. And time after time, Simone has come back from setbacks, silenced doubters, and rewritten the script of what greatness looks like. She did it in 2023 after a two-year hiatus, rising from the quiet like a phoenix and turning uncertainty into domination. And she did it again at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where critics whispered about her age, her mental strength, and her ability to keep up with a new generation. Simone heard all of it — and answered not with words, but with medals. Three of them, to be exact. But one stood out above the rest: gold in the vault.
Yes, the vault — the explosive, high-flying, blink-and-you-miss-it event where champions are made by inches and milliseconds. And this time, Simone didn’t just win it. She took down the reigning queen, Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade, the defending Olympic champion who many thought had the edge. But Simone had something else. Not just power. Not just precision. She unveiled a vault so difficult, so daring, it stunned even the experts. It was the Yurchenko double pike, a move so dangerous and rare that it bears her name: the Biles II. It’s the kind of skill that separates legends from the rest — and only Simone has ever landed it in the Olympic competition. But the most stunning part?
Well, it didn’t come from the judges’ scores or the roar of the crowd in Paris. It came 9 months later, in a quiet moment of reflection, during Simone Biles’ latest conversation with TIME. There, she looked back on that gravity-defying, logic-defying, history-making vault and said with a laugh, “I was 27 years old doing a Yurchenko double pike—maybe I’m crazy!” That wasn’t just a quip. It was a rare moment of realization, after that unforgettable August night, where even Simone had to pause and acknowledge what she’d done.
Because in the world of gymnastics, 27 is supposed to be old. The Yurchenko double pike is supposed to be untouchable. But Biles bent both rules — with power, grace, and a smile that says, ‘Watch me.’ And as she added in that same interview: “It is wild now that I think about it.” Wild? True. The YDP carries a 6.4 D-score — nearly a full point above any other vault being performed. But why so?
Unlike traditional vaults, where gymnasts launch forward onto the table, Simone Biles’ weapon of choice—the Yurchenko double pike (YDP)—is an entirely different beast. It begins with a roundoff, a cartwheel-like maneuver that turns the gymnast sideways as she plants her hands on the springboard. From there, she explodes into a back handspring onto the vaulting table—and that’s just the takeoff. What follows is what sets hearts racing and jaws dropping.
In midair, Simone completes two full flips—that’s the “double”—but it’s the way she flips that adds the danger. In a “pike” position, she folds her body at the hips, legs straight and tight, grabbing them with control and grace that defy the laws of physics. It’s not just difficult—it’s dreaded. Especially that second flip, which pushes the limits of human capability. But on that Paris night, Simone made it look effortless—a perfect fusion of power and poise, like poetry in motion spinning through the air. And the result? A stunning average score of 15.300. However, Simone bid goodbye to YDP last September, celebrating the moment and dropping a post on Instagram. Another crazy part, right? But what about Biles’s chance to show up in the LA Olympics? Has she shared anything on that matter?
Simone Biles talks about her chances of competing in the LA Olympics
Since her triumphant run at the Paris Olympics, Simone Biles has been noticeably absent from competition mats—no meets, no routines, just a well-earned silence from the queen of gymnastics. But with the 2025 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships looming this October—the very event that kickstarts the countdown to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics—one question is echoing louder and louder: Will Simone show up?
So far, there’s no definitive answer. No announcements. No hints of training montages. Just speculation. But Entertainment Tonight’s Rachel Smith tried to dig a little deeper when she caught up with Simone at the Laureus Awards last April. When asked about a potential Olympic return, Simone didn’t give anything away. Instead, she smiled and said,“Well, I’m definitely relaxing as much as possible. I feel like I have no stressors in my life. I get to be with my husband a lot more than before, so it’s been amazing.” That’s not a “yes.” It’s not a “no,” either. It’s a perfectly timed mystery from someone who’s mastered the art of surprise. So, could Simone Biles take on a new role—coach, mentor, ambassador—on the road to LA 2028? Maybe. But for now, she’s keeping it close to the leotard.
