Simone Biles is in a league of her own 

Has there ever been an athlete, male or female, quite like Simone Biles, the greatest gymnast of all time? She is like something from another planet, so out of this world are the body-bending tricks she can accomplish on the floor, vault and bars. These are incomprehensible feats of agility, strength and grace, which were once the territory of the communist countries who could bully their young athletes into doing all sorts of outrageous manoeuvres on lethal-looking pieces of equipment. But not these days: it’s a sport for the world and Biles is its queen.

Biles is very human: she has had trouble with the gymnast’s equivalent of the ‘yips’ – known as the ‘twisties’ – when she couldn’t tell up from down, a condition familiar to many journalists, and had to take time out. Far worse, she was abused by Larry Nassar, the US gymnasts’ team doctor who was sentenced to 300 years for sexually assaulting children and possessing child pornography. 

Biles, who comes from Spring, Texas (a particularly cheering example of nominative determinism), and spent some years in care before being adopted at six by Ronald and Nellie Biles, whom she always credits with her success. Chasteningly for most of us who can’t get out of a car without grunting, she performs her astounding feats with great élan, charm and a warm smile; she is an object lesson to sports people all over the world.

Last weekend she dominated the World Championships, bringing her total of medals to 37 across all competitions. With the Olympics coming up next year, only a fool would bet against her adding to her haul. And nobody would deserve it more.

Moving swiftly from the sublime to the considerably less so, it would be good if England rugby’s World Cup coach Steve Borthwick would find a captain who could tell the time.