Just another big thank you to my family for the unending support and my husband & kids for the being the best cheerleaders. Loved the World Champion picture….never would have believed you if you had told me we would all be competing at the same time. pic.twitter.com/V8ha2xzf5I
I was lucky enough to see Natalia Yurchenko compete in person. She instantly became one of my favourite gymnasts.
Natalia was the first woman to compete her eponymous vault, at 1982 Moscow News.
The element was controversial at first, Yurchenko explained. Another parallel to Biles’ daring innovations.
“There were a lot of debates to allow it or not to allow it,” Yurchenko recalls. “I performed it in America, and the American judges, some of them, were really against it because it seemed way too dangerous …
A boycott of the 1984 Games in Los Angeles meant Yurchenko never got the chance to compete her element at the Olympics.
For Natalia Yurchenko, watching @Simone_Biles take her eponymous vault to the next level was a dream she had as a kid: to leave something for the next generation.
“I was amazed that we have Simone Biles, who can raise us all to that kind of level.”
I’ll eat my previous comment about concerns surrounding this vault. My heart thumps as she begins the run, I hold my breath as she pushes from the table, my eyes widen as she rotates faster than any human ever has and I GASP as she lands. Only Simone can be this great. Bravo! https://t.co/D8K0fzrhN2