Simone Biles, the most decorated American gymnast of all time at the Olympic Games, added another gold medal to her career achievements by winning the all-around title in a dramatic final in Paris. Brazilian Rebeca Andrade won the silver medal after a strong performance that created a dramatic competition with Biles. Biles’ teammate, Sunisa Lee, took home the bronze.
The competition includes four apparatuses: vault, uneven bars, balance beam, and floor; and the final score is the sum of the scores obtained by the athletes on each of them.
Biles scored 59.131 points, followed by Rebeca with 57.932; and Sunisa Lee with 56.465.
With the victory, Biles, the most decorated American gymnast of all time at the Olympic Games, added another gold medal to her achievements, her sixth gold and her ninth Olympic medal overall.
However, unlike many of her other medals over the years, this one did not come easily. Her gold required overcoming an exceptionally poor performance on the uneven bars that briefly placed her in third place behind two strong competitors, including Rebeca Andrade, considered the second best in the world.
Rebeca is Biles’ closest rival in 9 years
Rebeca became the Brazilian with the most Olympic medals – four in total.
Since her stellar performance at the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games, the Brazilian has positioned herself as a solid runner-up behind the American, consistently posting high scores when competing. Andrade and Biles were the only gymnasts to qualify for four of the five individual women’s finals at the Paris Games.
After her performance on Thursday (1) in Paris, Biles expressed her relief:
“I don’t want to compete with Rebeca anymore. I’m tired,” Biles said. “She’s too close. I’ve never had an athlete so close, so it definitely kept me on my toes and brought out the best athlete in me, so I’m excited and proud to compete with her, but… it was uncomfortable, personally. I was stressed.”
Rebeca expressed pride in the recognition from the American.
“Knowing that I gave Simone a run for her money is cool, right? She’s the best in the world, as I said. Simone is a phenomenon, and we’ve seen that not just here, but in several competitions she has participated in. It’s an honor to be able to compete alongside her,” Rebeca said.
The two will compete against each other three more times in Paris, in the finals of vault, beam, and floor. The audience is grateful for the opportunity to witness another spectacular performance from the two greatest gymnasts of the moment.
Sources: Agência Brasil, Uol, and CNN