Simone Biles made a historic return to the World Gymnastics Championships by performing the most difficult jump in the women's scoring code.
Biles was the first woman to perform the Yurchenko double pike, which gave her a score of 15.266. She scored 58.865 in the all-around.
“She made it. That is all I can say, she handled her nerves, handled the pressure. It was her last event, she endured fatigue and everything,” coach Laurent Landi said.
“So it's great. People I hope realise that once in a lifetime you are going to see a vault like that from a woman gymnast, so I think it is time to appreciate that now.”
The Yurchenko double pike will now be renamed Biles II. It is the fifth skill to be named after the American gymnast.
Biles owns 25 world championship medals.
She returned to competition earlier this summer after a two-year break following the Tokyo Olympics. Then 19 years old, the four-time Olympic champion skipped many events due to what gymnasts refer to as “twisties”.
Twisties is a mental block whereby gymnasts lose their awareness and body control when performing.
Biles won the all-around division of the US Classic in Chicago in August.
Team USA finished first in their qualifying subdivision at this month's championships in Belgium. They will go for team gold later this week.
Heather, the Totality
Matthew Weiner,
Canongate
What vitamins do we know are beneficial for living in the UAE
Vitamin D: Highly relevant in the UAE due to limited sun exposure; supports bone health, immunity and mood.
Vitamin B12: Important for nerve health and energy production, especially for vegetarians, vegans and individuals with absorption issues.
Iron: Useful only when deficiency or anaemia is confirmed; helps reduce fatigue and support immunity.
Omega-3 (EPA/DHA): Supports heart health and reduces inflammation, especially for those who consume little fish.
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates, Etihad and Swiss fly direct from the UAE to Zurich from Dh2,855 return, including taxes.
The chalet
Chalet N is currently open in winter only, between now and April 21. During the ski season, starting on December 11, a week’s rental costs from €210,000 (Dh898,431) per week for the whole property, which has 22 beds in total, across six suites, three double rooms and a children’s suite. The price includes all scheduled meals, a week’s ski pass, Wi-Fi, parking, transfers between Munich, Innsbruck or Zurich airports and one 50-minute massage per person. Private ski lessons cost from €360 (Dh1,541) per day. Halal food is available on request.
'Young girls thinking of big ideas'
Words come easy for aspiring writer Afra Al Muhairb. The business side of books, on the other hand, is entirely foreign to the 16-year-old Emirati. So, she followed her father’s advice and enroled in the Abu Dhabi Education Council’s summer entrepreneurship course at Abu Dhabi University hoping to pick up a few new skills.
“Most of us have this dream of opening a business,” said Afra, referring to her peers are “young girls thinking of big ideas.”
In the three-week class, pupils are challenged to come up with a business and develop an operational and marketing plan to support their idea. But, the learning goes far beyond sales and branding, said teacher Sonia Elhaj.
“It’s not only about starting up a business, it’s all the meta skills that goes with it -- building self confidence, communication,” said Ms Elhaj. “It’s a way to coach them and to harness ideas and to allow them to be creative. They are really hungry to do this and be heard. They are so happy to be actually doing something, to be engaged in creating something new, not only sitting and listening and getting new information and new knowledge. Now they are applying that knowledge.”
Afra’s team decided to focus their business idea on a restaurant modelled after the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Each level would have a different international cuisine and all the meat would be halal. The pupils thought of this after discussing a common problem they face when travelling abroad.
“Sometimes we find the struggle of finding halal food, so we just eat fish and cheese, so it’s hard for us to spend 20 days with fish and cheese,” said Afra. “So we made this tower so every person who comes – from Africa, from America – they will find the right food to eat.”
rpennington@thenational.ae
