Simone Biles has always been passionate about her craft, and her youthful frustration is a testament to that. An online clip showcases the young gymnast reacting after a mishap during a vault at a competition.
In the video, a young Biles in a purple leotard attempts a vault but doesn’t quite nail the landing. Despite her impressive skills for a child, she visibly expresses her disappointment by animatedly talking to an official and walking away with her arms crossed.
While young Biles may not have been happy with her performance, social media users certainly recognized her talent. Comments like “Legend in the making,” from @MarkMatts, and “It’s hard to believe this is the same Simone Biles in the 2024 Olympics,” from @fopminui, highlight her growth.
Starting gymnastics at just six years old, Biles has come a long way. Recently, she clinched her seventh gold medal in the Olympic vault final, dazzling judges with an impressive average score of 15.300. Her Yurchenko double pike maneuver is so challenging that it’s never been attempted by a woman in a competition before.
This feat, requiring a round-off back handspring followed by two backward flips in pike, was first performed in 1982 by Soviet gymnast Natalia Yurchenko.
Biles is now the second gymnast, after Vera Caslavska of Czechoslovakia, to win vault gold twice. At the Paris Games, she earned three golds across the women’s vault, individual all-around, and team all-around finals.
Although she missed out on a floor medal to Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade, Biles secured a silver, and faced some challenges during the beam final, finishing in fifth place after a slip. This was a tough competition, with four out of eight finalists, including Biles and teammate Sunisa Lee, also falling off the beam.
In a later press conference, Biles referred to the “weird” atmosphere in the arena, noting that the lack of background noise typically found in gymnastics competitions made it more stressful: “We do better in noisy environments, as it resembles practice. It was just odd and awkward.”
Despite the ups and downs, Biles now boasts an impressive collection of 11 Olympic medals—seven gold, two silver, and two bronze—along with 30 World Championships. Not too shabby for a girl who once struggled to stick the landing!