Gymnastics' international governing body, the FIG, was founded in 1881 and still runs international gymnastics. The balance beam existed as early as the 1880s as a "low beam" close to the floor, and by the 1920s it was raised much higher. In 1997, the FIG raised the minimum age for international elite competition to 16. In 2004, the traditional vaulting horse was replaced with a new, safer apparatus, which led gymnasts to attempt harder vaults. Under the "new life" rule used since 1989, scores from one session of a competition do not carry over to the next.

Before 2006, the highest possible score in gymnastics was a perfect 10. The newer scoring system removed the perfect 10. Under the 2006 system, two panels of judges score each routine, and each panel evaluates a different aspect of the performance. The E score covers execution and artistry, and the D score covers skill requirements, difficulty value and connection value. Execution errors are judged small, medium or large, and cost 0.1, 0.3 or 0.5 points.

Simone Biles made her international debut in 2013, and at the 2013 World Championships she won the all-around with a score of 60.216. In 2015, she became the first woman to win three consecutive world all-around titles. At the 2018 World Championships, she became the first American woman to win a world medal on every event, and she won the gold medal on vault, her first world vault title.

At the 2019 World Championships, Simone won the all-around with a score of 58.999, a record-setting 2.1 points ahead of second place. She became the first woman to complete a triple-twisting double somersault on floor exercise. She also led Team USA to its fifth consecutive world team title. As of November 2026, she is a member of a record five gold-medal-winning U.S. teams at the World Championships.

At the 2023 World Championships, Simone earned her sixth world all-around gold medal with an overall score of 58.399. She won the balance beam with a score of 14.800, and she helped the U.S. win a seventh consecutive team gold medal. At the 2023 U.S. Championships, she won her eighth national all-around title.

At the 2024 Olympics, Simone helped the U.S. team win the team gold medal and won three gold medals in all. She won the vault gold medal with a Biles II, a Yurchenko double pike, and a Cheng. Earlier, at the 2016 Olympics, she had won four gold medals, and her first Olympic gold came in the team event on August 9. As of November 2026, she has won 11 Olympic medals, and 7 of them are gold.

Words to know

• apparatus: gym equipment
• consecutive: in a row
• elite: top level
• somersault: a flip