On Feb. 28, Clemson’s redshirt junior gymnast Brie Clark became the first collegiate gymnast to land the Biles I in competition, one of several elements that are signatures of the greatest gymnast of all time, Simone Biles.
According to Forbes, Clark, a standout for the Clemson gymnastics program, which has only been accredited for two years, duplicated Biles’ move that requires tremendous power, as she made a tumbling pass in competition.
What makes the move so difficult — only four gymnasts other than Biles have completed it — is the blind landing, that the move requires a gymnast to complete after completing two fully laid out flips, and finishing the second flip with a 180-degree twist.
Clark, however, made it look easy, even though she landed out of bounds. Despite that miscue, the fact that she completed the skill at all only adds to her growing legacy at Clemson’s gymnastics program. In 2024, Clark became the first competitor in program history to achieve a perfect score.
In 2022, while a freshman at Utah State University, Clark became one of only four freshmen to be named a Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Association All-American on the floor, posting a school record National Qualifying Score of 9.940.
According to Teen Vogue, the skill landed by Clark got the attention of its namesake, who posted a video of the routine to her Instagram Stories with the caption “I KNOW THAT’S RIGHT.”
On the Clemson Gymnastics official Instagram account, Biles posted twice under the video they posted, acknowledging Clark’s contribution to Black History Month. “congrats 
,” Biles wrote initially, following that up with “& closing out black history month! YES MA’AM 
iktr!!!!!!!”
Clemson Gymnastics also shared a video of the moment Clark realized that Biles had commented on the video, and she had a moment, fangirling out when she saw that Biles had commented twice.
“Guess who commented?” the person showing Clark the video said. “Shut up!” Clark responded after she realized that the legendary Biles saw the video. “Twice! She knows I exist.”
On March 2, as March is Women’s History Month, Clark was featured on Good Morning America after her historic routine and she told host Janai Norman that she still hasn’t quite come to grips with the fact that Biles knows who she is.
“It’s like a dream come true, I don’t think it’s really hit me yet…She’s (Biles) such a role model for me and I’ve always looked up to her and I think she’s one of the coolest people on the planet, so, like she knows I exist?” Clark said in disbelief.
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