Simone Biles: 'Twisties' Have Never Hit Me Like This Before

She says it's the worst case she's ever had
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 30, 2021 9:07 AM CDT
Simone Biles: 'Twisties' Have Never Hit Me Like This Before
United States gymnast Simone Biles sits on the stands during the artistic gymnastics women's all-around final at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Thursday, July 29, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan.   (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Simone Biles says she's still dealing with a very bad case of the "twisties"—a disconnect between body and brain known as a "gymnast's worst nightmare"—and it's not clear whether she will compete again in Tokyo. In a series of now-deleted Instagram Stories, Biles shared videos of herself struggling with the uneven bars dismount during training Friday and said she "literally cannot tell up from down," NBC reports. Biles, who described the feeling as "honestly petrifying," repeatedly failed to do 2 1/2 twists. In one video, she dropped out of the air after a half twist and landed flat on her back on a mat placed over a pit full of foam blocks, reports USA Today. "I don’t think you realize how dangerous this is on hard/competition surface," she wrote. The 24-year-old said the twisties "randomly started happening" on Monday.

Biles said she had experienced the twisties on vault and floor exercise before, but what "sucks ... really bad" is that she is now experiencing them on bars and beam for the first time, the AP reports. "It’s the craziest feeling ever. Not having an inch of control over your body,” Biles said. "What’s even scarier is since I have no idea where I am in the air I also have NO idea how I’m going to land, or what I’m going to land on. Head/hands/feet/back." She said that in the past, it has taken two weeks or more to recover her confidence and abilities. For now, she is still scheduled to compete as an individual in vault, bars, balance beam, and floor, starting Sunday. (Teammate Sunisa Lee won gold in the women's all-around finals Thursday.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X