Simone Biles secured her place at the pinnacle of her sport with another dazzling piece of history, winning her second Olympic gold in Paris and her sixth all-around gymnastics title overall. The American, who claimed the title in Rio 2016 and was the favorite in Tokyo 2020 before withdrawing, became the oldest winner of her sport’s blue-ribbon event in 72 years in front of a crowd filled with other celebrities.
Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade won the silver medal at the Bercy Arena, while reigning champion Sunisa Lee took the bronze medal.
Biles, the world’s most decorated gymnast, wore a stunning goat necklace while celebrating – as if there were any doubts about her status as the G.O.A.T. (Greatest of All Time).
“In the [athletes’] village, I have a stuffed goat. Just to get a reminder, like ‘You can go out there, you can do it. You’ve done it before. So, let’s go’.”
The previous 12 Olympic all-around women’s champions were teenagers, and even the last non-teenager, Ludmilla Tourischeva, was just weeks away from turning 20 when she won in 1972.
How Biles won her latest gold
Biles’ intent was clear from the start of Thursday’s session. Beginning with her ‘Biles II’ vault – the hardest in women’s gymnastics – proved to be a good decision as she needed the extra buffer in points after making an uncharacteristic mistake on the uneven bars.
“Thank God we did the double pike [on vault] today because I wasn’t planning on it,” she said.
She was behind Andrade after two rotations, but after battling gravity to stay on the 10 cm wide apparatus and scoring 14.566 for her difficulty-filled beam routine, she brought the crowd to their feet and moved back to the top of the standings.
Taking a lead of 0.166 into the final rotation on floor, Biles was the last to perform. She executed some of her best skills flawlessly, scoring a total of 59.131.
This meant she finished 1.199 ahead of Andrade, who could only applaud and enjoy her rival’s performance, as did everyone else in the packed arena.
Great Britain’s Alice Kinsella significantly improved from her qualifying performance, finishing in 12th place, while her compatriot Georgia-Mae Fenton finished in 18th place.
A gold for herself – but it was ‘stressful’
Biles had helped the United States reclaim the team title two days earlier, but Thursday evening was about trying once again to claim the title of the world’s best gymnast after the upheaval in Tokyo.
The pressures she faced before entering the Games three years ago, her struggles there without her family due to pandemic restrictions, and her withdrawal from several finals due to mental blocks known as ‘twisties’ are all well-documented.
Returning to the sport last summer after a two-year break, Biles told reporters that she had weekly therapy sessions over the past three years and sometimes during these Games.
“I’m very proud of the struggle it took to get back to my performance and mentally and physically over the past three years,” she said.
But the path to gold was not easy for her, she added: “I’ve never been this stressed before – thanks to Rebeca.”
She even mentioned that she never wants to compete against the Brazilian, although it will be tough in Paris since both have qualified for the vault, beam, and floor finals.
Regarding Andrade, who also won silver in Tokyo, Biles said, “I’ve never found an athlete so close – it definitely gave me strength and brought out the best athlete in me.”
A big gasp was heard around the arena – where Kendall Jenner and basketball star Stephen Curry were among the spectators – when she made a mistake on the low bar, having to bend both knees to avoid touching the ground, and missed a connection to score 13.733 on the uneven bars.
But that is traditionally her ‘weakest’ event of the four – and after a quick reassurance from her husband that she could still win, she nailed her performances on the beam with 14.566 and on the floor with 15.066.
The stats that show Biles’ brilliance
Simone Biles has said that she doesn’t keep track of her statistics; instead, it’s about going out there and doing what she loves.
Undoubtedly, with so many records, keeping track of them can be challenging. Although she corrected someone at a press conference who said she had nine Olympic gold medals instead of nine medals overall.
The final itself was historic; it was the first time two female Olympic all-around champions were facing off for a second title, with Biles going up against her teammate Lee, the gold medalist from Tokyo 2020.
Her tally of world and Olympic medals was 37 – and now she has increased it to 39, with the possibility of adding to it in the upcoming floor, beam, and vault finals.
With the team gold on Tuesday, which brought her total Olympic medals to eight, she surpassed Shannon Miller as the most decorated American Olympic gymnast – and now she has nine medals.
Simone Biles also holds records for the most women’s all-around world titles (six) and the most world championship medals (30).
She had another chance to set a record on Thursday – if she had performed a new skill on the bars that she had presented to the International Gymnastics Federation, she would have been the only active gymnast with skills on all four apparatuses.
But she did not attempt it – and it wasn’t necessary, as her other unique and high-value skills were more than enough to seal the gold. Click here to know more sports news.
