Simone Biles makes return to competition for 1st time since Tokyo Olympics
Simone Biles made an impressive return to gymnastics Saturday night, with such force only Biles can bring after a two-year hiatus.
Biles, a seven-time Olympic medalist and 2016 Olympic individual all-around champion, placed first at the U.S. Classic, held in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.
The U.S. Classic is the last opportunity to qualify for the 2023 U.S. Gymnastics Championships which will take place later this month in California.
Competing in all four events; vault, beam, bars and floor, Biles finished with a score of 59.1, according to MyUSAGym.
Biles kicked off Saturday's competition with a 14.0 on uneven bars, landing her third place, the only event she didn't take first in. Following uneven bars, Biles' beam routine received a 14.8 score, only getting stronger going into her floor exercise routine, Biles received a 14.9 and lastly, her vault routine scored a 15.4.
Biles' U.S. Classic score of 59.1 had her five points ahead of second place, held by Leanne Wong at 54.1.
USA Gymnastics called the Olympian the GOAT, tweeting "Congrats, Champ!"
This was the first time she’s competed since July 2021, when she withdrew from multiple events at the Tokyo Olympics due to mental health struggles.
Biles, now 26, was on track at the Tokyo Olympics to win an unprecedented six gold medals during the Games, with the aim of also becoming the first woman since 1968 to win back-to-back titles in the all-around.
After stumbling on a vault landing in the team competition final, Biles withdrew from three of her event finals, citing her mental health.
On Thursday, Biles, who got married earlier this year, posted an Instagram story documenting her last practice at her local gym in Texas.
"Feelin all the emotions," Biles wrote in the story, followed by multiple emojis.
In Illinois, Biles faced off against some of her 2020 Olympic teammates, including Suni Lee, who ended up winning gold in the individual all-around competition in Tokyo.
Lee has also not competed in elite gymnastics since Tokyo. She ended her collegiate career at Auburn University earlier this year due to a health issue and in order to focus on training for the 2024 Summer Olympics, to be held in Paris.
Other gymnasts who competed on Saturday were Jade Carey and Jordan Chiles, who joined Biles and Lee, as well as Mykayla Skinner and Grace McCallum, in bringing home a silver medal in the team competition in Tokyo.
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All eyes on Biles' signature moves
When Biles took the mat in Hoffman Estates Saturday, the focus was undoubtedly on both her skills and how she is handling the pressure of her return.
Here's a look at Biles' signature moves and what makes them so challenging.
Floor exercises
The "Biles on the floor" was first successfully completed by Biles on the world stage in 2013 at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. This move is a double layout with a half-twist, which means that her body remains straight and elongated as she flips twice. While in the air, she completes a half-twist.
What makes this move so challenging is the "blind landing," Courtney Johnson, a USA Gymnastics-accredited judge, told ABC News in 2021, ahead of the Tokyo Olympics. This means that Biles can't see the floor where she will land when she comes down from the flip.
Not only does she have to be extremely high in the air to do two full, stretched-out flips, but the half-twist makes this move more difficult, Johnson said.
Her second signature move on the floor, "Biles II," was first successfully completed on the world stage in October 2019 at the World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany. For this move -- a triple-double -- Biles flips twice while twisting three times before hitting the ground.
"The timing has to be good enough for you to still get that height in the air, but also move your arms to start this spin-rotation part," Johnson told ABC News.
Biles is the first female gymnast to ever complete a triple-double.
On vault
The "Biles on the vault," a Yurchenko half-on with two twists, was first successfully completed on the world stage at the 2018 World Championships. Yurchenko is a type of move named after Soviet gymnast Natalia Yurchenko that involves a round-off onto the spring board, followed by a back handspring on the vault.
Biles does a round-off into a back hand-spring with a half turn, and completes the move by twisting twice in a somersault.
It was assigned a difficulty score of 6.4 -- which makes it one of the most difficult vaults in women's artistic gymnastics.
On the balance beam
The "Biles on the balance beam," which was first completed on the international stage at the 2019 World Championships, features a double-double dismount. Biles is the first gymnast to ever complete this skill, according to Team USA.
"If you're listing the level of difficulty amongst all those skills, I would say the balance beam dismount is probably at the top of the list," former UCLA gymnastics coach Valorie Kondos Field told ABC News previously.
The move is a double-twisting double backflip, completed on a 4-inch wide beam.
"The one that is just mind boggling to me is the dismount of balance," Spencer said. "It's hard enough just to get to a dismount, with multiple skills in front of it going down a straight line. To be able to execute a skill that twists twice and flips twice from a balance beam ... that is just absolutely phenomenal."
Coaches say that Biles' genetics likely has a lot to do with her success.
Johnson said her 4-foot-8-inch height and small stature gives her more time in the air to do high-difficulty skills, and it makes her unstoppable when combined with her strong, muscular build.
"She's using her body and her muscles as efficiently as possible and it makes her that much more powerful," Johnson said.
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Her strength allows her to push her smaller body higher up into the air, Johnson said, and since she's shorter and takes up less space, she can manage more twists, turns, and stunts than her competitors.
ABC News' Kiara Alfonseca contributed to this report.
Simone Biles makes return to competition for 1st time since Tokyo Olympics originally appeared on goodmorningamerica.com