Gymnast Simone Biles won her eighth U.S. Championship, making her the first gymnast to ever hold that many titles — female or male.
According to the New York Post, after winning Sunday night, she admitted, “I don’t think about numbers.”
“I think about my performance. And I think overall, I hit 8 for 8. I guess it’s a lucky number this year,” she added.
Biles is also now the oldest woman to win a national title. At the age of 26, she has been nationally competing for a decade now.
When discussing her success, she noted, “I like to keep (my goals) personal, just so that I know what I’m aiming for.”
“I think it’s better that way. I’m trying to move a little bit differently this year than I have in the past,” she went on.
Then she concluded, “I think it’s working so far, so I’m going to keep it secretive.”
Most female gymnasts retire by the time they are 25, if not sooner, per All Gymnasts. But Biles has been breaking records for years.
By 2019, she had earned 25 World Championship medals and held seven records in the Guinness Book of World Records, via Guinness World Records.
The IJR reported that Biles made a successful return to Gymnastics at the beginning of August after experiencing difficulty at the 2021 Olympics.
Now, she is breaking records once again.
USA Gymnastics posted about her success and called her the “GOAT” (Greatest of all time).
NBC Olympics & Paralympics posted footage of her floor routine and wrote, “The floor routine that secured @Simone_Biles‘ 8th national all-around title, a feat that no American gymnast in history has done before.”
They also posted a clip of her balance beam stating, “Simone Biles is locked in.”
“She scores a 14.850 for this routine on the balance beam,” they added.