A Simone Biles appreciation post

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Good morning, Broadsheet readers! G7 leaders agree to a tax deal, the Supreme Court won’t hear a case on the draft, and Simone Biles is on her own planet. Have a great Tuesday.

– G.O.A.T. We are so accustomed to Simone Biles winning that it’s easy to lose sight of all of her extraordinary athletic feats.

This past weekend, the Olympic gold medalist won her seventh U.S. Gymnastics championship, a record. She has not not placed first in an all-around competition she’s entered since 2013.

And it’s not just that she wins; it’s how she wins.

Her skills are so superior that officials in the past have watered down the points they award her for difficult elements so, they say, her competitors don’t try to match her routines and physically hurt themselves. (Left unsaid is that it’s also a way to keep Biles from running away with competitions even faster than she already is.)

What makes Biles’s collection of hardware all the more impressive is that she’s adding to it at age 24, senior status in a physically grueling sport that prizes youth. Washington Post sportswriter Liz Clarke attributes Biles’s dominance to a supportive family, attentive coaches, the breaks she’s taken from competition, and the fact that she seems “incredibly happy” in the gym.

Indeed, Biles is downright reveling in her mastery of gymnastics, owning her brand and embracing the title of G.O.A.T.—Greatest of All Time—with a swagger we’re used to seeing from male athletes.

“What we will see in Tokyo is Simone beating Simone of 2016,” Clarke told NPR. We can only hope Team USA’s Olympics uniform has a place for “Goldie,” the bedazzled goat Biles is now affixing to her leotards.

—

Later today, the Coins2Day Global Forum kicks off. The virtual event will feature Best Buy CEO Corie Barry, Flex CEO Revathi Advaithi, Banco Santander executive chairman Ana Botín, Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman, Darktrace CEO Poppy Gustafsson, Ping An Group co-CEO Jessica Tan, and BioNTech co-founder and chief medical officer Özlem Türeci, among many others. You can check out the full agenda and more here.

Claire Zillman
[email protected]
@clairezillman

The Broadsheet, Coins2Day’s newsletter for and about the world’s most powerful women, is coauthored by Kristen Bellstrom, Emma Hinchliffe, and Claire Zillman. Today’s edition was curated by Emma Hinchliffe.

ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

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- Pass on the draft. The Supreme Court declined to hear a case that would challenge the male-only military draft. Explaining the decision, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the court doesn't want to take up the issue while it's being actively considered by Congress. CNN

- Veep goes abroad. On her first foreign trip—to Guatemala—Vice President Kamala Harris announced new initiatives aiming to discourage people from crossing the U.S.-Mexico border and to address corruption and human trafficking. The vice president heads to Mexico next on this trip. USA Today

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MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Judy Smith joins the board of Ariel Investments.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

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- Open up. All eyes were on the French Open after Naomi Osaka dropped out to take care of her mental health. Now tennis player Victoria Azarenka has weighed in on a different issue: she says the Open lacks gender equality in ways that go beyond prize money, from who plays night matches to which matches are played on outside courts. Meanwhile, tennis legend Martina Navratilova, who serves as a French Open commentator, sees the world "catching up" to her style of sports plus social justice.

- Longshot race. Arora Akanksha, 34, is a financial auditor running to be the next secretary-general of the UN. She's one of 10 longshot candidates who aren't even listed on the official ballot (Only incumbent António Guterres is). But Akanksha is still campaigning, even if ambassadors decline to publicize taking meetings with her. The New Yorker