“I’m not the next Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps, I’m the first Simone Biles,” a humble 19-year-old had said after winning two gold medals in the 2016 Rio Olympics. Well, Simone has already etched that “first”, five times in gymnastics history, with five moves named after her. However, none of those came in any of the Olympics. So, on July 25, when Simone submitted a new uneven bar element to be named after her (the sixth one), the possibility of one more “first” appeared on the horizon.

The new element, called a Weiler-kip, is a clear hip circle forward with 1.5 turns (540 degrees) to the handstand. FIG’s Technical Committee has awarded the skill a difficulty value of E on a scale from A to J, giving it a value of 0.5. If Simone nails it, she will be only the second gymnast after Russia’s Svetlana Khorkina to have a named move in all four routines. And guess what, this will be her first on the uneven bars, a routine considered her weakest spot. So anticipation was sky high.

On Sunday, Simone returned to the Bercy arena to reclaim her Olympic throne amid loud cheers from the audience that featured A-list celebrities like Tom Cruise and Ariana Grande. But the crowd skipped a beat just before the floor routine. During the warm-up, Simone landed a bit shaky, only to leave the floor for some time with the team doctor Marcia Faustin.

In the television broadcast, Biles was heard saying, “As soon as I took off, I felt it. It’s right there on my calf. Right where I had that f***ing tear.” The déjà vu moment had struck. Is Simone going to miss it again?

The crowd took a sigh of relief as Simone appeared for the floor routine. However, her lower left leg and ankle were heavily taped. And she seemed to be stretching her calf muscle by jogging up and down. Despite that, she executed her floor routine with “unbelievable difficulty,” as the public announcer called it. The routine that featured her gravity-defying Biles II on the floor, also known as the triple-twisting double back tuck, earned her an impressive 14.6. But things still did not look ok.

After the floor routine, Simone sat on the step leading down from the performing area, instead of joining her teammates. Within moments, a more worrying picture emerged.

Just after her warm-up vault, Simone was crawling on all fours, then rising to her feet and hopping on her right leg. To add to it, as she practiced her Yurchenko Double Pike, aka Biles II, she landed short, something that is unusual for her. But relieving the arena once again, she sprinted down the runway. With no signs of unease, she sprung off the vault table, flipping twice in pike to land her signature move. Although she needed a big step back to catch herself, the routine earned her a huge 15.800.

Simone ended her day with a solid uneven bar routine. Although she did not land her new skill, the routine earned her 14.433, taking her total score to 59.566. With all that, she qualified for the all-around final alongside Suni Lee, setting up a historic occasion when, for the first time in the Olympics, two former all-around champions will compete against each other. But the worry is not going away. How serious is her injury?

Simone’s coach, Cecile Landi, later informed that the injury probably stemmed from a strain she felt weeks before the Olympics. “A couple of weeks ago she felt it and after it stopped and she felt a little again today,” Cecile said. So how worrying was that? According to Cecile, “She felt a little something in her calf. That’s all. There was just a little pain in her calf. She felt it a little on the floor and we taped it.” She then literally shut down queries about Simone’s calf but declared that withdrawing from the competition was “never in her mind.”

On the other hand, USA Gymnastics technical lead Chellsie Memmel was more open in her reaction. After the day wrapped up, she was asked if she was concerned about what happened. “I am. but I’m going to talk to her,” Memmel replied. She also did not hide that she was a bit apprehensive about Simone continuing through the final two rotations. But how did Simone look amid all these?

She probably won’t speak to the media before the competition ends. But after the first day, Simone waved to the crowd and danced with Jordan Chiles. However, alarms have started ringing. Three years back in Tokyo, it was a bruised mind that brought her down to her knees. Will she be able to overcome a strained physique this time to earn her name once again? While you worry over it, take a look at Simone Biles’ five signature moves that propelled her to gymnastic immortality.

1. The Biles I, Floor, 2013 World Championships, Antwerp, Belgium

A round-off and a back handspring, two backward flips in layout, meaning the body is straight. A half twist toward the end of the second flip.

This was Simone Biles’ first named move at the age of just 16. During that time gymnasts were already doing a double layout with a full twist. But Biles did it with a half twist. In gymnastics, the more the gymnast twists, the harder the element becomes. But, interestingly, in this case, the lesser twist led to a blind landing since the gymnast could not see the ground while landing. In Code of Points, the skill is awarded H based on its complexity.

2. The Biles I, vault, 2018 World Championships, Doha, Qatar

A round-off onto the springboard, a half twist diving onto the vault, pushing off with hands and performing a front layout, a flip with the body straight with a double twist.

The vault was awarded a difficulty value of 6, compared to the cheng vault performed by most with a value of 5.6. The cheng, named after Chinese gymnast Cheng Fei, differs from the Biles I in having a 1½ twist rather than a double twist. Simone’s extra half twist to her vault raised its complexity and thereby the difficulty.

3. The Biles, Beam, 2019 World Championships, Stuttgart, Germany

Two back handsprings, rebounding off the end of the beam, flipping twice with knees bent in a tuck position, performing two full twists during those two flips.

Double-flipping dismount in a tuck or pike position is performed by many, but, without twisting. Two full-twists in a tuck position off the beam happens to be extremely difficult. And Simone kind of made the unthinkable possible with it. The height and power required to execute this skill safely is difficult to generate.

FIG awarded an H difficulty rating to the element. but the rating is just one scale above the full-twisting double tuck dismount, which is a G. USA Gymnastics, and Biles herself subtly protested the decision calling it undervaluing. But FIG declared that it decided to give the lower value to dissuade gymnasts from attempting it, rather than assigning it a value that matched its true difficulty.

4. The Biles II, floor, 2019 World Championships, Stuttgart, Germany

A round-off and a back handspring, launching the body into the air, flipping twice in a tuck position while twisting three times.

Often referred to as the “triple-double”, this is considered the most difficult element in the floor exercise in women’s gymnastics. The third twist increases the difficulty of the skill since the gymnast has to be really quick to complete two twists during one flip. It was rated J, making it the highest-rated skill across all apparatuses in women’s artistic gymnastics.

5. The Biles II, vault, 2023 World Championships, Antwerp, Belgium

A round-off onto the springboard and a back handspring onto the vault, performing two flips in a pike position, meaning the legs are straight while folding the body at the hips.

The vault, also known as the Yurchenko Double Pike is considered one of the most dreaded vaults and only a few men attempted it before Biles became the only woman to do that on the international arena. Most female gymnasts perform the Yurchenko vaults with just one flip. It is the second flip that makes the vault an incredibly difficult one. Failure to execute that properly can lead to serious injury. It has a difficulty value of 6.4, which is higher than any other vault in women’s gymnastics.