Simone Biles called the Paris Olympics the "redemption tour" for the U.S. women's gymnastics team. On Tuesday, we got a chance to see just how much redemption, as the United States won gold in the women's team final.
Biles joined Jordan Chiles, Suni Lee and Jade Carey in bringing gold back to the United States after taking team silver behind Russia in Tokyo. Hezly Rivera, who didn't participate in the team event, also gets a medal.
The 27-year-old Biles competed in all four events of the team final despite a calf injury, which she suffered in floor warmups during qualifying on Sunday She still topped the all-around with the highest scores on floor and vault during the qualifying, and it didn't appear to hamper her efforts in the final on Tuesday.
Lee bested Biles on bars and beam, Tuesday, but Biles was near the top of the charts of every rotation, as expected. This was the team event; the two will face each other later in the Games at the individual all-around.
Ultimately, the US women scored 44.100 on vault, 43.332 on uneven bars, 41.699 on beam and a 42.165 on floor.
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The outcome — the Americans on top with the rest of the world looking up — was not in doubt from the moment Chiles began the night by drilling her double-twisting Yurchenko vault.
By the time Biles, the left calf that bothered her during qualifying heavily taped, stepped onto the floor for the final event — a floor exercise set to music by Taylor Swift and Beyonce — her fifth Olympic gold medal was well in hand.
The 27-year-old provided the exclamation point anyway, sealing the Americans' third gold in its last four trips to the Games.
The Americans remain peerless (if not flawless, this is gymnastics after all) when at their best.
And over two hours in front of a crowd that included everyone from tennis great Serena Williams and actor Natalie Portman to Biles' husband, Chicago Bears safety Jonathan Owens, Biles left little doubt about anything.
Her status as the sport's greatest of all time. Her ability to move past the “twisties” that derailed her in Tokyo. Her spot in the pantheon of the U.S. Olympic movement.
Three years after removing herself from the same competition to protect herself — a decision that changed the conversation around mental health in sports — Biles pushed her medal total in major competition to a staggering 38 and counting.
Yet her return to the Games wasn't so much about winning. It was about a joy she had lost somewhere along the way.
It seems to have returned. She leaned into the crowd that roared at every flip, every leap and, yes, every twist. With her husband — on break from NFL training camp — waving an American flag while sitting next to her parents, Biles did what she has done so well for so long save for a couple of difficult days in Japan during a pandemic: she dominated.
Yet the 27-year-old hardly did it alone. Lee and Chiles were on the team that earned silver in Tokyo with Biles watching from the sideline. They navigated a series of setbacks both physical and personal to return to this moment and get the gold they so badly wanted.
And there they were on the biggest stage, Chiles doing all four rotations right next to her good friend Biles while doubling as the U.S.'s hype woman. Lee mixing her elegance with grit while dazzling on beam and uneven bars, her two best events.
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Carey won the floor exercise in Tokyo, but did it with an asterisk of sorts. She's earned her way in through a nominative process the sport's governing body has since abandoned. She was with Team USA in Tokyo but not actually part of the official four-woman squad.
She vowed to write a different ending this time, and the Cheng vault she did on the first rotation scored a 14.800 — second only to Biles — to give the U.S. a commanding lead before Biles even saluted the judges.
The only real drama centered on who would finish next to the Americans on the medal stand.
Italy, which was a surprising second to the U.S. during qualifying, earned its first Olympic team medal since 1928 by holding off Brazil, which took bronze for its first medal in the biggest event in the sport.
