Drew Pierce is a junior journalism major and is a columnist for The Daily News. His views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper. Write to Drew at dlpierce2@bsu.edu.
On Sunday, Simone Biles took the global stage at the 2019 International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) World Championships in Germany.
After hitting a 15.066 on the beam, Biles cemented herself as the most-accomplished gymnast of all time. This gold-medal performance edged out Vitaly Scherbo for the most-decorated gymnast in world championship history. Biles’ 24th world championship medal seals her spot on the top of the gymnastics world.
With her 18th gold medal, Biles is the greatest gymnast of our generation and of all time. Although the actual GOAT (greatest of all time) is upon us and thriving, she is not getting the recognition this achievement deserves. Part of this is because of the history of gymnastics and how it does not get the media attention it may deserve.
“I would love for gymnastics to get more media coverage,” Ball State Gymnastics head coach Joanna Saleem said. “It is different than any sport out there. The amount of strength and focus that has to come from doing a skill is unlike any other sport out there.”
When Biles completed this record-setting feat, there were tweets, there were articles and there were posts. However, after that day, it fell off. Maybe this is because of our short news cycle culture that has been established online, or maybe this is because people only care about gymnastics when the Olympics roll around.
When LeBron James passed Michael Jordan on the NBA all-time points list, I couldn’t open Twitter without seeing it for an entire week. The only tweets I saw about Biles happened on the day of, and then it fizzled out. This is a huge accomplishment. Biles deserves a bit more time in the spotlight for her perseverance in the face of adversity.
It is obvious gymnastics is not a mainstream sport in the United States, but we need to recognize the amount of talent and dedication it has taken to get where Biles is. Her fiery personality and devotion to her craft puts her among the greatest athletes in today’s world, not just in gymnastics.
“[Gymnastics] is not in the mainstream,” Saleem said. “I think college gymnastics in the last five to 10 years has started to change that. There is a lot more TV exposure, and that has really helped get fans to understand what the sport is about.”
On top of this accomplishment, Biles offers a revitalization of the sport on the global stage.
“It is huge for the sport in terms of exposure,” Saleem said. “It is amazing what she is capable of. It is an appealing story to be able to watch this young woman, year after year, go out and continue to do amazing things.”
Gymnastics is a sport that is always happening. It is not just some event that takes place every four years when the Olympics roll around. It is time both Biles and the sport as a whole get some more recognition and coverage, especially when such a big accomplishment happens.
Contact Drew Pierce with any comments at dlpierce2@bsu.edu or on Twitter @dpierce3cc.
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