Simone Biles arrived in Paris as the face of the U.S. Olympic team and maybe the Olympics themselves. The buzz around her return to the Games has been palpable.
And on Tuesday, she once again showed why she deserves all accolades, proving it in the way only a generational talent can.
After a dominant performance in qualifying, Biles was once again sensational as she led her team to the gold medal in the women's team competition. Here's a breakdown of her scores:
- Vault: 14.900 (5.600 in difficulty, 9.300 in execution)
- Uneven bars: 14.400 (6.200 in difficulty, 8.200 in execution)
- Floor: 14.666
- Beam: 14.366 (6.400 in difficulty, 7.966 in execution)
Biles clinched the gold with a dazzling performance in the final floor exercise, which put the U.S. (171.296) well ahead of silver-medalist Italy (165.494) and bronze-medalist Brazil (164.497).
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The victory makes Biles the most decorated American gymnast in Olympic history. After Tuesday's women's team final, she now has eight Olympic medals, the most all time in U.S. women's gymnastics. And it was Biles' fifth gold medal, tying Anton Heida, who won five gold medals in 1904, for the all-time record held by an American gymnast.
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She also becomes the oldest American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in gymnastics, passing Aly Raisman, who won two gold medals at age 22 in 2016. Biles is the oldest women's gymnast overall to win a gold medal since Soviet Union’s Polina Astakhova did so in 1964 at age 27.
Biles is the oldest American woman to win an Olympic medal in women's gymnastics in 76 years, when three members of the 1948 U.S. bronze-medal winning team were between the ages of 27 and 29.
In qualifying on Sunday, the 27-year-old became the first women's gymnast to land a Yurchenko double pike vault at the Olympics, taking hold of the high score in the event with a 15.800. It's a move that already had been re-named after her — now commonly known as the "Biles II."
Biles held the high score in the all-around after completing her four events at qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympics on Sunday. She closed the day with a 14.433 in uneven bars, which currently stands as the eighth-highest score in the event.
Biles had the highest score in vault (15.300) and floor (14.600), along with the second-highest in beam (14.733) for an all-around total of 59.566.
Her U.S. teammates were right behind her Sunday, with Suni Lee scoring a 56.132 for the second-highest all-around score and Jordan Chiles sitting third with a 56.065. On Tuesday, they followed suit once again, with Lee scoring a TKTK and Chiles earned a TKTK.
