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 individual all-around in a dramatic finale in Paris. Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade took the silver medal after a strong performance that sparked a dramatic competition with Biles. Biles’ teammate Sunisa Lee took the bronze.
The competition includes four apparatuses: vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise; 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 medal and her ninth Olympic medal overall.
But unlike many of her other medals over the years, this one didn’t come easily. Her gold required overcoming an unusually poor performance on the uneven bars that briefly put 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 woman with the most Olympic medals – four in total.
Since her stellar performance at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, the Brazilian has positioned herself as a solid second-place finisher behind the American, consistently posting high scores when she competes. Andrade and Biles were the only gymnasts to qualify for four of the five women’s individual 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 no more. I’m tired,” Biles said. “She’s way too close. I’ve never had an athlete that close, so it definitely put me on my toes, and it brought up the best athlete in myself so I’m excited and proud to compete with her but … it was uncomfortable, guys. I was stressing”.
Rebeca showed pride in the American’s recognition.
“Knowing that I gave Simone a hard time is cool, right? She’s the best in the world, like I said. Simone is a phenomenon, and we’ve seen it not only here, but in several competitions she’s participated in. It’s an honor to be able to compete alongside her,” said Rebeca.
The two will compete against each other three more times in Paris, in the vault, balance beam and floor finals. The public is grateful for the opportunity to watch another spectacular performance by the two greatest gymnasts of the moment.
Sources: Agência Brasil, Uol and CNN