Armour: U.S. gymnast Simone Biles does things no other athlete can

Nancy Armour | USA TODAY Sports

GLASGOW, Scotland — Serena Williams, LeBron James and Jordan Spieth have nothing on Simone Biles.

As otherworldly as those three have been in dominating their sports, the pint-sized gymnastics powerhouse has been there and done them all one better. It’s been two-plus years since the 18-year-old last lost a meet, and about the only way she doesn’t become the first woman to win three consecutive all-around titles at the world championships Thursday night is if she decides not to go.

“I get jaded sometimes,” coach Aimee Boorman admitted before worlds. “I forget Simone is an amazing athlete because I see her every day. And I’ve seen her every day since she was 7 years old. So I forget that what she does, most people are striving to do and dreaming to do, and she’s doing it every day.”

One event into her third world championships, Biles already has tied the U.S. record for world medals (10). With seven world titles already and several chances to pick up more this week, she will likely leave The SSE Hydro with more gold medals than any other female gymnast.

Ever.

What Biles is doing transcends her sport, putting her more on par with Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt than Nadia Comaneci or Mary Lou Retton. The other Americans even joke that they’ve given up trying to catch her.

“All, the girls are like, `Simone’s just in her own league. Whoever gets second place, that’s the winner. Simone gets her own super first place,’” double Olympic gold medalist Aly Raisman said. “Even the coaches joke about it.”

We are a nation that loves winners, particularly when someone does it in spectacular fashion. Williams and Spieth in their quests for the Grand Slam. American Pharoah finally ending the Triple Crown drought.

And as soon as the general public gets wind of her, Biles.

“We’re still mentally preparing me for all of that limelight,” she said. “You can’t get too caught up in yourself. We still have goals.”

Like Williams or James or Spieth, it’s not the results that set Biles apart so much as how obviously — and seemingly effortlessly — better than everyone else she is.

She is a natural tumbler, gifted with power and explosiveness. On floor exercise, she gets so much height on her tumbling passes she’s got to have jet packs in her legs.

At the U.S. championships in August, she landed her Amanar vault — one of the most difficult being done in the world — without a wiggle, begging the question of exactly where the judges who gave her a 9.9 in execution found flaws.

But that raw talent means nothing if she’s splatting all over the floor, which she’s not. As dizzingly high as her start values are, her execution scores are equally imposing.

Put those together, and you have what just may be the perfect gymnast.

“I don’t see us as being in a different league and I don’t think Simone does, either,” Boorman said. “I know other people have said that, and I think it’s kind of funny. But we don’t see ourselves like that.”

And that may be what makes Biles most special.

Unlike other athletes, who can’t appreciate that others don’t have their same gifts, Biles isn’t even aware of her own hype, let alone caught up on it. Another U.S. all-around title? She was happier to brag on Maggie Nichols, her best friend and roommate, who had finished second in a breakout performance.

Climbing the individual ranks? That’s nice and all, but it’s the team title that makes her eyes light up.

Even the gold nail polish she brought to the world championships was more about practicality — "It looks good on everyone" — than pride.

"She’s been winning since she was little," Boorman said. "And it was always, `You won because you did the best that you could do.' It works out that her best is pretty amazing."

Every bit as good — if not better — as those other dominant U.S. athletes.

PHOTOS: World championships