Simone Biles Says She's No Longer Performing This Gymnastic Move in the Most Unforgettable Way

Simone Biles' most famous move will now just be the wind beneath her wings.  

The gymnast revealed that she is officially retiring her famous Yurchenko Double Pike, which is considered one of the hardest moves in gymnastics and also helped Simone win gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Simone shared the news on Instagram Sep. 2, writing, "rest in peace yurchenko double pike," alongside a heart hands emoji and photos of her posing in all-white atop a vault table—which slightly resembles a coffin—surrounded by white flowers. She also posted the photo to her Instagram Stories, cementing the move's status as dearly departed with three headstone emojis.

And fans were delighted by the 27-year-old's ode to her famous move, with one commenting, "OMG you just threw a funeral/eulogized your vault. I am deceased."

Another added, "She said 'i hope yall saw that bc i will NOT be doing it again!!'"

And one user joked, "Girl you killed it. Literally."

Yurchenko-style vaults—named for former gymnast Natalia Yurchenko—are common among gymnasts who often perform the moves with one flip. But Simone took it a step further by adding a second flip, making it the Yurchenko Double Pike, also dubbed the Biles II, a move that consists of a roundoff onto the springboard, followed by a back handspring onto the vault. She made history in May 2021 when she became the first woman to land the move during a competition.

And as the Olympian—who wed Jonathan Owens in April 2023— previously discussed, she felt more comfortable performing the move at during 2020 Tokyo Olympics season, especially because she had an extra year to practice due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

"Before it was just kind of working on that vault for my block, for my other vaults," she told People in 2021. "And then we got a little bit more serious. I was like, 'Okay, I think I can compete this.' And then that's where it landed us to last week and me competing it in competition."

And after she landed the move for the first time at the U.S. Classic that May, she "felt a hundred percent confident in myself that I could do it safely and land it" during the Olympics.

"[I knew] it was going to be fine because in training I had done it so many times," she continued. "I do it every other day. And for the last couple of months, shoot, I would say like four months we've done on competition surface. So I felt pretty confident."

And the move went out with a bang at the 2024 Olympics in Paris—where she took home three gold medals and one silver, making her the most decorated gymnast of all time.

Keep reading to see all the times that Simone proved she is the GOAT.

Simone Biles first stunned the world during her participation in the 2013 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Belgium.

There, she qualified first in the all-around, second to the vault final, sixth to the uneven bars final, fifth to the balance beam final and first to the floor final, which made her the first American gymnast to qualify to the all-around and all four event finals since 1991. At just 16 years old, Biles became the first Black and seventh American woman to win the world all-around title.

Believe or not, the young athlete has four (!) gymnastic moves named after her.

Among them is the double layout with a half twist, which the sports star debuted in her floor routine during the podium training for the 2013 U.S. Classic. Eight years after London Phillips completed it domestically in 2005, Biles was able to successfully nail the skill at the 2013 World Championships, earning the tribute.

Biles once again proved she was a force to be reckoned with during the 2015 U.S. National Championships by securing her third all-around national title, becoming only the second woman ever to do so, 23 years after athlete Kim Zmeska.

Also in 2015, during the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, Biles ended her performance with an impressive final score of 60.399.

With that victory, she became the first woman to win three consecutive all-around titles in World Gymnastics Championships history, bringing her total gold medal count to 10 at the time—also the most for any woman in World Championships history.

Biles has never been afraid to address her haters or anyone who has had something to say about her body image.

In 2016, the gymnast first took to Twitter to express that she is "comfortable in her own skin." And in 2020, the athlete again reinforced self-love by releasing a statement declaring that she is "done competing with beauty standards and toxic culture of trolling…because nobody should tell you or I what beauty should or should not look like." Yeah, she stuck that landing. 

Biles is also the first female gymnast since Daniela Silivaș in 1988 to win a medal on every event at a single Olympic Games or World Championships, having accomplished this feat during the 2018 World Championships in Doha.

Biles helped Team USA secure the number one spot less than 24 hours after going to the hospital due to pain from a kidney stone. The star even took to Twitter at the time to say that the "stone could wait."

Another win stemming from the 2018 World Championships: Biles debuted her now-namesake vault, a roundoff, back handspring with half turn entry, front stretched somersault with two twists (yes, it's as astounding as it sounds) at the selection camp.
 

Biles followed up her jaw-dropping 2018 move with an impressive balance beam skill. 

She first started training the double-twisting double-tucked salto backwards dismount off of the beam in 2013, but debuted the stunner at the 2019 World Championships where it was given the rating H, the highest rating of any skill performed on the balance beam. Biles expressed disappointment at the skill being undervalued, but despite the rating controversy, she successfully performed it during qualifications and the Biles dismount was born.

Thanks to her outstanding performance during the 2019 World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany, Biles once again broke records by surpassing gymnast Vitaly Scherbo's record 23 World medals by winning her 24th and 25th medals (both gold, of course).

In April 2021, Biles confirmed that she would be ending her partnership with Nike to begin one with the brand, Athleta.

"I felt like it wasn't just about my achievements, it's what I stood for and how they were going to help me use my voice and also be a voice for females and kids," she explained to the Wall Street Journal of the move. "I feel like they also support me, not just as an athlete, but just as an individual outside of the gym and the change that I want to create, which is so refreshing."

In May 2021, the athlete became the first woman to land the Yurchenko double pike on the vault during her first competition in over a year. The new vault was given a preliminary value of 6.6, making it the highest valued vault in women's gymnastics.

On June 6, 2021, Biles made history again by becoming the first woman to win a record seventh U.S. senior women's all-around title.

"It's really emotional, especially going into my second time doing an Olympic run," Simone said after her victory. "It's really crazy, and I appreciate everyone that's come out to watch and support us, especially after the year we've had."

In June 2021, Biles had fans buzzing all over the social media once she debuted a new leotard bedazzled with the image of a goat.

"The idea was to hit back at the haters," she told Marie Claire. "[The haters] were joking like, ‘I swear, if she put a goat on her leo, blah, blah, blah.' That would make them so angry. And then I was like, ‘Oh, that's actually a good idea. Let's make the haters hate it, and the fans love it.'"

Biles was one of 17 people who received the nation's highest civilian honor in 2022.

In 2023, a decade after she won her first world title at age 16, the athlete won her 27th world gold medal at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships, breaking the record for world medals and Olympic medals (7) combined with a total of 34.

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