Simone Biles’s relationship with the Yurchenko double pike, the Biles eponymous skill, remains one of the most memorable chapters in modern gymnastics. The vault, known as the Biles II, is not only technically unmatched but also carries a story of triumph, uncertainty, and eventual closure. She first completed it in front of judges at the 2021 US Classic in Indianapolis, becoming the first woman to perform the move in competition. The vault involves a roundoff onto the springboard, a back handspring onto the table, and a double somersault in a piked position before landing. Awarded a difficulty score of 6.4, it stood as the most challenging vault in the women’s code. And now, that has returned to the conversation.

Her decision to attempt that vault on the international stage appeared certain during podium training at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Videos of her rehearsals drew attention across the sport, but the moment never reached competition. Biles withdrew from the vault final after experiencing the “twisties,” a mental block that disrupted her spatial awareness. Yet, three years later in Paris, she returned to the vault under Olympic lights and produced a 15.700, enough to secure gold in the vault final despite a deduction on her second attempt, a Cheng. But following that, the dynamics changed.

The significance of that Paris vault returned to conversation this week, as fans revisited her farewell to the skill. “Simone Biles said goodbye to the YDP a year ago today 🫶 Will we ever see another woman compete this vault???”, Gymnastics Now (@gymnastics__now) posted on Instagram, marking the anniversary of her retirement of the move. The reminder brought her decision back into focus, an announcement she made not long after standing atop the podium in Paris.

In September 2024, Biles staged what she called a “funeral” for the Yurchenko double pike. She appeared in all white, seated on a vault covered in flowers, and captioned the scene with, “rest in peace yurchenko double pike.” The post served as finality. Asked in Paris if she would attempt the vault again, she answered directly.

“Is this my last? Definitely the Yurchenko double pike. I mean, I kind of nailed that one.” In the Netflix docu-series Simone Biles Rising, she expanded on the experience, stating, “Just scary. And it’s every time you do it, you’re scared. Every time I do it, I’m like — OK. One more time.”

But fans largely welcomed her decision. Many expressed relief that she would no longer risk injury on an element even she described as unsettling. “She said ‘i hope yall saw that bc i will NOT be doing it again!!’” One user wrote in response to her post. Others noted the humor in the staged farewell, with one remarking, “OMG you just threw a funeral/eulogized your vault. I am deceased.”

Biles’s retirement of the Biles II closed a rare chapter.

She was the first woman to land it in competition in 2021, the first to have it recognized internationally in 2023, and the only one to win Olympic gold with it in 2024. The vault, however, is now consigned to history, remembered as both her most dangerous and her most defining contribution. Even in her absence from competition today, its story continues to remind the sport of her unmatched legacy. 

Simone Biles weighs future as she questions return for 2028 Los Angeles Olympics

Simone Biles addressed her future with deliberate candor, conceding that the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics might arrive without her on the competition floor. At 28, she acknowledged that the years ahead would demand careful consideration, particularly as the physical burden of gymnastics weighed more heavily on her with each season. “But 2028 seems so far away, and my body is aging. I felt it in Paris,” she remarked.

Her reflections were anchored in a desire to live beyond the strict schedules of training. Biles spoke of time spent with her husband, NFL player Jonathan Owens, and the importance of ordinary moments, too, often postponed by her profession. “I’m really trying to enjoy life, to spend time with my husband, go support him at his games, live my life as a woman,” she explained. For someone whose achievements had redrawn the boundaries of her sport, the prospect of returning to the relentless four-year cycle required more than routine motivation.

As she put it, “For me to come back, it would really have to excite me.”

Yet she did not distance herself from the Games entirely.

She clarified that her presence in Los Angeles was certain, though her role remained undefined. “Whether on the apparatus or in the stands, I still don’t know that,” she told L’Equipe. The decision would rest on whether renewed competition stirred her spirit or whether she chose to witness the event as a spectator. In either case, her words suggested a woman unwilling to be rushed, aware that her legacy in gymnastics was already secured and that her next step should answer only to her own conviction.