Is there anything Simone Biles can’t do? The superstar gymnast has collected five Olympic medals — four of them are gold — and a staggering 14 medals at the Gymnastics World Championships. Biles has coined two gymnastic moves bear her name: the Biles, a series of marquee tumbling passes on the floor exercise, and a brand-new vault that she debuted at the 2018 World Championship qualifying event. Oh, and did we mention that she also dishes out elite-level clapbacks? Yes, Biles is an actual superhuman — right down to her physical health.
Biles shared on Instagram that she was hospitalized on Friday night for a kidney stone, a mere 24 hours before the 2018 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships kicked off in Doha, Qatar. And not only did she shrug off the kidney stone (whom she’s affectionately named her “Doha pearl”), she flashed her signature megawatt grin in her hospital gown. “This kidney stone has nothing on world championships,” she wrote, making us all feel like wimpy underachievers. When we had a kidney stone, we most certainly were not smiling about it.
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She was even released to go to compete at the championships, where, naturally, she dominated the sport (again). ESPN reports that, after the first day of competition, she’d racked up an astonishing all-around score of 60.965, easily giving her the lead over her fellow athletes. As part of Team America, she’s helped steer the USA towards first place, with a 12-point lead over second-place Japan.
Basically, Biles is a powerhouse of historical proportions, and we should all be so stoked that we’re alive to see her compete. Doha pearl or not, she rules this sport with a smile. Here’s hoping for a full recovery — not that she needs it to win.
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