Simone Biles Joins the Ranks of Athletic Legends with Latest Gold Medal Victory

Simone Biles Joins the Ranks of Athletic Legends with Latest Gold Medal Victory

Biles, who is competing in her third Olympic Games, won the gold medal in the individual all-around competition on Thursday for the second time, regaining the 2016 championship that cemented her legacy in the sport.

American gymnasts have won the individual all-around title in each of the past five Olympics—in Rio, Tokyo, Beijing, London, and Athens. Paris was added by Biles to that legendary list on Thursday.

She’s been regarded as the greatest of all time for a long time, but grit makes gold.

“Three years ago, I never thought I’d step foot on a gymnastics floor again just because of everything that had happened,” Biles said after her win, referring to a struggle with the “twisties” in Tokyo. “Tonight, it means the world to me.”

Reigning Olympic all-around champions seldom make it back to the podium, but Suni Lee persevered through renal disease and other challenges to win bronze over Alice D’Amato of Italy by a mere tenth of a point. Rebeca Andrade, a Brazilian gymnastics sensation, earned her second straight silver medal in the all-around competition.

Even though Biles defeated Andrade by barely over a point—the same as a fall—she claimed to be under intense pressure from Andrade.

“I don’t want to compete with Rebeca no more,” Biles stated. “I’m tired. She’s way too close. I’ve never had an athlete that close, so it definitely put me on my toes and brought out the best athlete in myself.”

“I’ve never seen her so stressed,” Lee added. Originally planning to execute a safer vault, Biles concluded that in order to defeat Andrade, she would have to “bring out the big guns” and perform her self-titled “Biles II” vault.

Although Biles did not declare her retirement, she did say, “I’m going to hand it to her now—she can have the rest.”

As the only American to win the gold medal in the Olympic all-around competition more than once, Biles joins Soviet Union’s Larisa Latynina and Czechoslovakia’s Věra Čáslavská as repeat winners. In a sport that has changed significantly since their final competition in the 1960s, both continue to be symbols.

No gymnast had ever won two consecutive Olympic all-around titles prior to Biles. Biles won her ninth medal overall on Thursday, her sixth gold. She surpassed Shannon Miller of the “Magnificent Seven” to become the most decorated American gymnast in Olympic history with the gold medal she took home from the team final on Tuesday.

Her total number of world and Olympic medals is 39.

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It was a victory to stay on the bar after that. Biles’ score on the balance beam was 13.733, which was a significant deduction that placed her behind Andrade.

On the 4-inch-wide beam, which has dashed many Olympic dreams, Biles delivered a master class. Andrade trailed Biles into the last rotation due to nervousness, but she finished strong on the floor with a great exercise.

Her eponymous vault, the Biles II, a Yurchenko double pike, helped her as well in the first rotation. Her score of 15.766 was the highest on any apparatus for the day.

With a score of 15.066, Biles won the gold medal with the trickiest floor routine in history, performed to Taylor Swift’s “… Ready For It?”

Along with Jade Carey, Biles and Andrade will square off once more in the vault final on Saturday. Biles is the first alternate, and Lee is competing on Sunday for an uneven bars medal.

The Olympic gymnastics in Paris will come to an end on Monday when the two compete in the balancing beam finals. Later in the day, Jordan Chiles will join Biles in the floor finals.

Reference

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With more than two years of expertise in news and analysis, Eileen Stewart is a seasoned reporter. Eileen is a respected voice in this field, well-known for her sharp reporting and insightful analysis. Her writing covers a wide range of subjects, from politics to culture and more.