In gymnastics, a “signature move” usually means more than a favorite skill. It means a skill that carries the gymnast’s name in the official rulebook, the Code of Points. When Simone Biles does a “Biles,” judges look it up under her name.
Biles has five named skills: two vaults, one balance beam dismount and two floor tumbling passes (USA Gymnastics, Skills Named for U.S. Gymnasts). This guide explains what each one is and how much it’s worth under the current 2025–2028 Code. It then covers other famous named skills, from the Yurchenko and the Amanar to the men’s Miyachi.
Simone Biles’ Five Named Skills at a Glance
| Skill | Apparatus | What it is | Value (2025–2028 Code) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Biles | Vault | Round-off with a half turn onto the table, then a front layout with two twists | 6.0 |
| Biles II | Vault | Yurchenko double pike: round-off, back handspring onto the table, two back saltos in a pike | 6.4 |
| Biles | Beam (dismount) | Double back tuck with two twists | H |
| Biles | Floor | Double layout with a half twist at the end | G |
| Biles II | Floor | Double back tuck with three twists, the “triple-double” | J |
Values are from the FIG Women’s Code of Points 2025–2028: vault table pp. 68 and 70, beam p. 145, floor pp. 168–169. FIG is the international federation, renamed World Gymnastics in December 2025.
Older articles often list 6.4 for the Biles vault and 6.6 for the Biles II. Those numbers belong to earlier Codes, and the 6.6 was only ever a provisional value. Under today’s Code the two vaults are worth 6.0 and 6.4.
How to Read the Values: Numbers for Vault, Letters for Everything Else
Vaults and the other apparatus show difficulty in two different ways.
On bars, beam and floor (and on the men’s apparatus other than vault), every skill gets a letter. The scale runs from A, worth 0.10, up to J, worth 1.00, and the gymnast’s best skills are added together toward the difficulty score. Our guide to how A–J difficulty values work shows how those letters build a routine’s score.
A vault is one skill, so it gets a single number from the vault table instead of a letter. That number is the vault’s difficulty score. The women’s table runs from 1.60 to 6.40, and the men’s table, which uses its own scale, tops out at 5.6 (how vault scoring works explains the rest of the vault score).
So a vault never has a letter grade, and a floor or beam skill never has a decimal value like 6.4.
How a Skill Gets a Gymnast’s Name
A gymnast earns a name by being the first to perform a new skill successfully at an official FIG competition. The women’s Code asks for a skill worth at least C, performed at an eligible FIG event, with the national federation sending the competition video. If two gymnasts perform the same new skill at the same competition, they share the name (WAG Code, Sec. 7.2.3, pp. 22–23). The men’s Code sets the same kind of conditions, including a performance without a fall (MAG Code, Art. 5.8). For men, since 1 September 2026, the first attempt in the routine has to succeed (MAG Newsletter No. 4).
Names aren’t always permanent. FIG keeps a record of every named skill in its Tables of Named Elements for women and men. Svetlana Khorkina had eight skills named after her, but four lost her name on 31 December 2005. Values change too: the Silivas on floor entered the Code at D in 1989 and has been H since 2013.
Biles’ Named Skills, One by One
The Biles (vault)
Biles does a round-off onto the springboard and a half turn in the air before her hands reach the table, then pushes off into a single front layout with two full twists. It’s the Cheng vault with an extra half twist. She first did it at the 2018 World Championships (AP, via KSAT).
It is in vault Group 5 (round-off with a half turn onto the table), number 5.34, valued 6.0 (WAG Code p. 70).
The Biles II (vault)
The Biles II is a Yurchenko double pike. A Yurchenko vault starts with a round-off onto the springboard and a back handspring onto the table. From there Biles does two back somersaults with her legs straight and her body folded at the hips.
She first competed it at a U.S. meet in spring 2021. FIG valued it at 6.4 in September 2023 (NBC Sports), and named it the Biles II after she landed it at the 2023 World Championships in Antwerp (World Gymnastics). At 6.4 (number 4.61, WAG Code p. 68), it is the highest-valued vault in the current women’s table.
The Biles (balance beam dismount)
Biles’ beam skill is her dismount: a double back tuck with two twists, often called a double-double. She first landed it in competition at the 2019 U.S. Championships (Guinness World Records), and it was named after the 2019 World Championships.
It is valued H (number 6.805, WAG Code p. 145). H is the highest value anywhere on beam.
The Biles (floor)
This is a double layout with a half twist at the end: two back somersaults with the body straight, with a half turn added as she finishes, so she lands facing the other way. She introduced it in 2013 (World Gymnastics, women’s elements), at that year’s World Championships (AP, via KSAT).
It is valued G (number 5.703, WAG Code p. 169).
The Biles II (floor)
The triple-double is a double back tuck with three full twists. Biles became the first woman to land it in competition at the 2019 U.S. Championships (Sports Illustrated), and it was named after that year’s World Championships.
At J (number 5.1002, WAG Code p. 168), it is the only skill valued J in the entire women’s Code.
Other Famous Women’s Signature Skills
Biles is far from the only gymnast with her name in the Code. These are some of the best-known women’s named skills, with their 2025–2028 values (WAG Code, pages shown).
| Skill | Named after | Apparatus | What it is | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yurchenko | Natalia Yurchenko (Soviet Union) | Vault | The entry, not one vault: round-off onto the board, back handspring onto the table. Vault Group 4 is labeled with her name | Depends on the salto (Yurchenko tuck 3.0, p. 66) |
| Amanar | Simona Amânar (Romania) | Vault | Yurchenko with 2½ twists | 5.4 (p. 67) |
| Cheng | Cheng Fei (China) | Vault | Round-off half turn on, front layout with 1½ twists | 5.6 (p. 70) |
| Produnova | Yelena Produnova (Russia) | Vault | Front handspring onto the table, double front tuck off | 6.0 (p. 64) |
| Yeo | Yeo Seo-jeong (South Korea) | Vault | Front handspring, front layout with two twists | 5.8 (p. 64) |
| Mo | Mo Huilan (China) | Uneven bars | Back swing into a tucked front somersault over the high bar, caught again | G (p. 88) |
| Ray | Elise Ray (USA) | Uneven bars (dismount) | Double layout with two twists | G (p. 103) |
| Comăneci | Nadia Comăneci (Romania) | Uneven bars (dismount) | From an underswing, a half turn into a tucked or piked back somersault | C (p. 101) |
| Patterson | Carly Patterson (USA) | Beam (dismount) | Arabian double front tuck: half turn, then two front somersaults | G (p. 144) |
| Garrison | Kelly Garrison (USA) | Beam (mount) | Round-off into a back tuck with a full twist, landing on the beam | F (p. 118) |
| Silivas | Daniela Silivaș (Romania) | Floor | Double back tuck with two twists | H (p. 168) |
| Moors | Victoria Moors (Canada) | Floor | Double layout with two twists | I (p. 169) |
| Memmel | Chellsie Memmel (USA) | Floor | Double turn on one foot, other leg held up in a split | D (p. 160) |
| Mitchell | Lauren Mitchell (Australia) | Floor and beam | Triple wolf turn (turning in a low squat on one leg) | E (floor p. 161; beam p. 130) |
A few patterns stand out. Vault names often describe a whole family: “Yurchenko” is an entry that dozens of vaults use, which is why the Biles II is also called a Yurchenko double pike. The Produnova, once called the hardest vault in women’s gymnastics, is now worth 6.0, below the Biles II. And the Yeo shows that a name can arrive late: the vault first entered the Code in 1997, but FIG only attached Yeo Seo-jeong’s name to it in 2022 (WAG Table of Named Elements).
Famous Men’s Signature Skills
Men’s gymnastics has its own Code and its own named skills across six apparatus. These values are from the FIG Men’s Code of Points 2025–2028.
| Skill | Named after | Apparatus | What it is | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thomas flair | Kurt Thomas (USA) | Pommel horse | Circles with the legs straddled wide | A |
| Magyar travel | Zoltán Magyar (Hungary) | Pommel horse | Circles that travel forward along the horse from one end to the other | D (p. 55) |
| Azarian | Albert Azarian (Soviet Union) | Rings | Slow backward roll with a straight body into a cross, held 2 seconds | D (p. 69) |
| Dragulescu | Marian Drăgulescu (Romania) | Vault | Front handspring, double front tuck with a half twist | 5.2 (p. 84) |
| Yang Hak Seon | Yang Hak-seon (South Korea) | Vault | Front handspring, front layout with three twists | 5.6 (p. 84) |
| Ri Se Gwang | Ri Se-gwang (North Korea) | Vault | Tsukahara entry, double back somersault with a full twist | 5.6 (p. 84) |
| Diamidov | Sergei Diamidov (Soviet Union) | Parallel bars | Forward swing with a full turn on one arm to handstand | C (p. 100) |
| Bretschneider | Andreas Bretschneider (Germany) | High bar | Kovacs (double back somersault over the bar) with two twists | H (pp. 125–126) |
| Miyachi | Hidetaka Miyachi (Japan) | High bar | Kovacs in a layout with two twists | I (pp. 125–126) |
| Liukin | Valeri Liukin (Soviet Union) | Floor | Triple back tuck | I (pp. 35–37) |
| Nagornyy | Nikita Nagornyy (Russia) | Floor | Triple back pike | J (pp. 35–37) |
| Jarman | Jake Jarman (Great Britain) | Floor | Double layout with 3½ twists | J (pp. 35–37) |
The Thomas flair’s value comes from FIG’s MAG Table of Named Elements. Kurt Thomas also had a floor skill, the Thomas salto, but that element and its name were removed from the men’s Code at the end of 2016.
The top of the men’s floor table moved in the new Code. The Nagornyy and the Jarman were raised from I to J in 2025, and the Liukin from H to I (MAG Table of Named Elements). So men’s floor now has J skills, the Nagornyy and the Jarman among them, while the women’s Code has only one, the Biles II.
For skills that don’t carry anyone’s name, from cartwheels to giants, see our list of artistic gymnastics moves by event.
Common Questions
What is Simone Biles’ signature move?
She has five named skills. The two best known are the Biles II on floor, a triple-twisting double back valued J, and the Biles II vault, the Yurchenko double pike valued 6.4.
What is “the Biles” in gymnastics?
It depends on the apparatus. On floor, the Biles is a double layout with a half twist (G). On vault, it is a round-off half turn onto the table with a front layout and two twists (6.0). On beam, it is a double-twisting double back dismount (H).
What is the hardest skill named after Simone Biles?
By value, the Biles II on floor. J is the top of the scale, and it is the only J skill in the women’s Code.
Can a gymnast lose a named skill?
Yes. FIG can remove a name or a whole element from the Code. Four of Svetlana Khorkina’s eight named skills lost her name in 2005.
Has anyone else done Biles’ skills?
Other gymnasts can compete any skill in the Code, and they get the same value. The name simply records who did it first at an eligible FIG competition.
The Short Version
Simone Biles has five skills named after her: two vaults (6.0 and 6.4), a beam dismount (H) and two floor passes (G and J). Vault skills are valued with numbers and everything else with letters from A to J. Her Biles II on floor is the only J in the women’s Code. Many other gymnasts, from Natalia Yurchenko to Jake Jarman, have their names in the women’s and men’s Codes too.