After winning her second Olympic all-around championship and her sixth career gold, Simone Biles once again rose to the top of her sport.
It is the first time two Olympic all-around champions have finished on the same medal podium when Biles (59.131) defeats Brazilian competitor Rebeca Andrade, who will retain her silver medal from the Tokyo Olympics (57.932), and Suni Lee, who will take home the bronze (56.465).
Biles is in excellent company since just two other women in history have won the all-around championship twice: Vera Caslavska (1964 and 1968) and Larisa Latynina (1956 and 1960).
With her win, Biles extends the American women’s all-around gold medal winning run to six Games in a row, beginning with Carly Patterson’s 2004 triumph.
Biles, who is 27 years old, is the second-oldest female gymnast to accomplish the feat in 72 years, behind Maria Gorokhovskaya, who won the championship at the Helsinki Games in 1952 at the age of 30.
“Three years ago I never thought I’d step foot on a gymnastics floor again because of everything that had happened but with the help of Cecile and Laurent (Landi) I got back in the gym and worked really hard mentally and physically,” Biles said afterward.
“I visited my therapist this morning even at 7 a.m. Just checking to make sure I’m psychologically strong since I believe the competition floor will reflect that. Ultimately, I find it absurd that I’m being discussed among the best athletes of all time because I still mistake myself for Spring, Texas native Simone Biles, who enjoys flipping.”
Unfazed by her prior struggles and disappointments, Biles stunned the world with a performance that will never be forgotten in Paris.
On vault, Biles began her evening with a 0.666-point advantage after sending her named Yurchenko double pike soaring.
After the competition, Biles said that she had not initially intended to participate in the Yurchenko double pike, but she finally made the decision that she could use the bonus point to put Andrade behind her.
“I don’t want to compete with Rebeca no more – I’m tired,” said Biles. “She is far too near. It really made me on my toes and brought out the best athlete (in me), since I’ve never had an athlete that close. Guys, I’m starting to feel uneasy! I was under stress.”
Biles mistimed her Pak Salto on the uneven bars on the second rotation. She thus bowed her knee a lot and needed an additional stroke to regain her rhythm.
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“I’m not sure what the camera caught or what I was doing,” Biles said. “I was probably praying to all the gods in the universe in an attempt to centre and concentrate since those aren’t the bars I’ve been practicing for.
Bars is, I believe, the event that I haven’t screwed up on throughout my whole training here or back in Houston. Refocusing and ensuring that, because I’m first up, I can just re-center myself and complete the remainder of the tournament because it’s never done until it’s finished.”
Biles briefly fell behind in the rankings, but she recovered on the balancing beam and completed an incredible floor routine in the last rotation to secure the victory.
Andrade, who is seen as Biles’s main opponent, is having a great time after leading Team Brazil to a historic bronze medal. With a stuck Cheng to open the competition, Andrade didn’t look back, winning her fourth Olympic gold overall.
Andrade said, “I’m just really happy and grateful.” It was a challenging tournament. Three days of competition—qualification, team final, and individual all-around—are very challenging, but I’m really pleased with my performance.”
Lee has fought his way back to the all-around gold podium after learning in early 2023 that he had two different renal ailments. It’s amazing enough that Lee returned to participate in her second Games after a doctor had warned her she probably wouldn’t practice gymnastics again.
She is now taking her fifth Olympic medal with her.
Lee said, “It’s taken so much.” “I told everyone today that it’s incredible that I was here and that I tried my hardest, since I honestly didn’t even believe I’d get to the stage.
I told myself not to put any pressure on myself since my only goal was to show to myself that I could succeed because I didn’t believe I could, not to worry about the previous Olympics or attempt to prove anything to anybody else.”
