There could just be one more element in gymnastics’ rulebook with superstar Simone Biles’ name on it after the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) announced Friday (26 July) that the American had submitted a new element, a Weiler-kip with a one-and-a-half pirouette (540 degree turn), for evaluation on the uneven bars.
A Weiler-kip is where a gymnast circles the bar forward before shooting up to a handstand.
If she were to perform the Weiler one-and-a-half successfully in Paris, it would be her first eponymous element on uneven bars and give her at least one signature element on each apparatus.
Biles typically competes a Weiler with a half turn in her routine, but has in previous major championships submitted a Weiler with a full pirouette that could be used as a cover up if she was going the wrong way over the bar. That skill was named for Australia’s Georgia Godwin last season.
No woman currently has a skill named on all four events, but at least one has previously: Svetlana Khorkina.
Khorkina has – at times – had as many as nine named elements, the record, but the 2022-24 FIG women’s code of points only credits her with skills on the vault, bars and balance beam.
Biles already has five elements named in her honour: two vaults, a balance beam dismount and two double-flipping elements on the floor exercise.
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