By Evelyn Frick
(Editor’s Note: This article was published before Simone Biles pulled out of the U.S. team gymnastics finals and individual all-around final, citing the emotional toll of the Tokyo Games for her decision to withdraw.)
There are quite a few professional athletes who have been called “the G.O.A.T.,” or greatest of all time. Quarterback Tom Brady, basketball star Michael Jordan and Baltimore-based swimmer Michael Phelps, just to name a few.
But gymnast Simone Biles? She might just be the best of the bunch. I mean, come on, when was the last time Brady, Jordan or Phelps flew through the air, doing a double backflip with three twists?
This level of athleticism and magnificence is what has made Biles a mind-blowing seven-time all-around U.S. National Champion, five-time all-around World Champion and five-time Olympic medalist.
It’s also what’s making her return to the Olympic stage this week in one of the most highly anticipated athletic competitions of the year.
To make her return even more special, Biles tapped a new choreographer for her Olympic floor exercise routine: Jewish dancer and choreographer Alexander “Sasha” Farber.
Farber, 37, was born to a Jewish family in Moscow and grew up in a town in Belarus that happened to be near Chernobyl. After the 1986 nuclear disaster — and due to the fact that, as Farber told the Arizona Jewish Post, “we had to keep it quiet that we were Jewish” — his family emigrated to Australia.
There, Farber started dancing. Two weeks before his bar mitzvah, he put together a show and later started training in ballroom dance under teacher Marta Kan.
By 17, Farber had won the Australian Youth Latin Championships twice, represented Australia at the Latin World Championships and been a featured dancer at the closing ceremony for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. A little while later, he became an original cast member for the Broadway production of “Burn the Floor,” a show about ballroom dancing.
In 2013, Farber attained the role of professional dancer on the 17th season of TV show “Dancing with the Stars.” Throughout his run on the show, he has been paired with such celebrities as reality TV star Snooki, ice skater Tonya Harding, Olympic gymnast Mary Lou Retton, and yes, Simone Biles.
Though Biles and Farber placed fourth on “DWTS,” the pair are aiming higher this time around, with a routine they hope is not only to defend Biles’ gold medal on floor exercise but her all-around and team titles as well.
For the G.O.A.T., choosing Farber to accomplish this monumental task was years in the making.
“Usually, I have a different choreographer, but this year I feel like we needed to be a little bit different — spice it up,” Biles said. “Even whenever I worked with Sasha [in 2017] on ‘Dancing with the Stars,’ we always said, ‘Oh my gosh, if we could do a floor routine, how cool would that be?’”
The selection of Farber and their collaborative back-and-forth rapport is all part of the autonomy that Biles, 24, now has over her routines. “You know, you know yourself better than anybody at this point,” she said.
For Farber’s part, he comes with an expertise, respect and freshness that will hopefully bring out a previously unseen side of Biles, who stands at four feet and eight inches. “She moves like a dancer, no one’s just seen that yet,” said Farber, who is married to professional dancer and choreographer Emma Slater.
You can watch Biles and Farber collaborate on her new floor routine in the fifth episode of the Facebook Watch docuseries “Simone vs Herself” — and you can witness the G.O.A.T. in Olympic action beginning on Saturday, July 24, on NBC.
This article originally appeared on Alma. Evelyn Frick is a writer/comedian and Alma’s editorial assistant.
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