The Inevitability of Simone Biles and Katie Ledecky

By Shane Thomas

There are times when an athlete feels less like an athlete and more like a fixed point in existence - think of visiting the Great Wall of China, or the Grand Canyon. After a while, they stop being extraordinary. They just feel inevitable.

When an athlete transcends into the pantheon of inevitability, they take on the same quality as those aforementioned tourist destinations - you have to see them before you die, even if it's only once. Simone Biles; Katie Ledecky - they're Bucket List performers.

A telling indicator of an athlete's greatness is when their very name is engraved onto their sport: the Fosbury Flop; the Cruyff turn; the "Makalele" role. In Simone Biles's floor routine, she executes a pass now known as "The Biles". And with good reason. She's the only person on this planet who can perform it. In a superb New York Times piece, they decode the mechanics of the move - yet it still seems fantastical that a human being is capable of such dexterity...

Read the whole piece at Media Diversified.

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