"That's why the jump felt like a crazy daredevil move" - When Simone Biles explained why uneven bars was her weakest event

By Zahid Rashid Dar

Modified Nov 19, 2024 18:33 GMT

Simone Biles once explained that she was weaker on uneven bars compared to other apparatus because of her short height and small hands. The American has earned medals in every apparatus except uneven bars at the Olympic Games.

Biles started her elite gymnastics career in 2011 but failed to qualify for the national team. However, the 27-year-old has made every national team since, and despite being relatively weaker on uneven bars, the seven-time Olympic champion has never lost an all-around competition since the 2013 National Gymnastics Championships.

While Biles' short height of 4 ft. 8 inches has worked in her favor on vault and floor exercises, where she is most dominant in, it has acted against her on uneven bars, which requires her body to produce a lift for swinging on the high bar.

Explaining the reasons behind her uneven bars routine being weaker in her 2016 memoir 'Courage to Soar: A Body in Motion, A Life in Balance', Biles said:

I didn’t love that apparatus the way I loved all the others, and at first my instinct was to avoid it. Aimee (Boorman) explained bars were harder for me because I was so short and my hands were small. That’s why the jump to the regulation height high bar felt like a crazy daredevil move."

The 27-year-old further added that she was a 'power gynmnast' who is used to controlling her swings while bars required her to let herself be controlled.

"Bars can also be tougher for a power gymnast, which I definitely was, because power gymnasts are used to controlling the apparatus instead of letting it control them. I had to be willing to let the bar swing me around. I had to find the flow and get in sync with the bar, and I had to let it control me," Simone Biles added

Of her 41 medals at the Olympic Games and World Championships. Biles has only won one on uneven bars so far. The apparatus nearly cost her all-around title at the Paris Olympics before her incredible floor routine helped her pull things back.

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Simone Biles submitted her first signature uneven bars skill at the Paris Olympics

Artistic Gymnastics - Olympic Games Paris 2024: Simone Biles in action (Source: Getty)

While Simone Biles has five gymnastics skills named after her, none of them is on uneven bars. The American did make an effort to get one named after her on her weakest event at the Paris Olympics, submitting a Weiler one-and-a-half ahead of qualification rounds.

It's a variation of an element named after Canada's Wilhelm Weiler and requires Biles to perform a clear hip circle forward with 1.5 turns to handstand. However, the 27-year-old didn't perform the skill after failing to qualify for the uneven bars finals.

It would have been the sixth gymnastics skill named after Biles, making her the first gymnast in history to have an original element after her on every apparatus.