Agencies
Paris
US gymnastics star Simone Biles recovered from a setback and soared to her second gold of the Paris Games and sixth of her Olympic career in the women’s all-around final on Thursday.
The 27-year-old became the oldest female to triumph in the event since 1952 as she repeated the gold she picked up in 2016 and missed in Tokyo three years ago amid a difficult campaign.
The six golds mean Biles is closing in on Larisa Latynina’s record of nine for the Soviet Union 1956-1964 and is now the American with the most gymnastics golds.
She scored 59.131, with Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade taking silver for the second straight Games on 57.932, while Tokyo champion Sunisa Lee of the US sealed bronze.
Biles said: "I knew to just keep pushing and to not give up. And that’s exactly what you saw out there. It feels amazing. I was a little bit naive in the process. So I appreciate my craft a little bit more.”
Stunning double pike vault
Back on Tuesday, Biles played it safe with her vault - partly due to an injured calf - but it was still enough to help the US easily win the women’s team gold.
This time she decided to go all out on her first piece of apparatus, bagging a huge 15.766 for a stunning Yurchenko double pike vault - which no one else in the sport would even try. It has been dubbed Biles II and has a massive 6.4 difficulty.
Biles suffered in Tokyo from the so-called twisties, where turning laterally in the air caused her problems and led to mental health issues. She has counter-acted that by limiting twists this time and still conjuring mesmerizing routines.
Her uneven bars were less smooth, but Biles cleverly bent her knees to avoid touching the floor and limit the damage. Andrade therefore nudged into the lead at the halfway stage after two impressive showings on the same apparatus, with Biles third.
The beam was next for both Biles and Andrade.
Biles had one wobble on the beam but she was otherwise superb with a near perfect dismount, leading spectators to rise from their seats in wonder and applause.
She outscored Andrade to go back ahead and it was left to the last of the four rotations - the floor – where Biles’ greater difficulty in her planned routine gave her an initial edge. But Andrade pushed her hard with a wonderful routine of her own at the Bercy Arena as she became the first Brazilian woman to gain four Olympic medals.
The pressure was on Biles but she nailed every tumble, creating immense height in her jumps and landing them all nearly perfectly.
"I’m just ecstatic with my performances tonight,” Biles added. "And we still have three finals left for me.”
Biles was gifted a ‘GOAT’ necklace by her teammate soon after her triumph. And of which, she said, "I know people will go crazy over it but at the end of the day it is crazy that I am in the conversation of ‘Greatest of all athletes’ because I just still think, ‘I’m Simone Biles from Spring, Texas who loves to flip.’”
Andrade paid tribute to her opponent, saying: "It was an honour, because I can see how happy she is to compete again. She was enjoying the competition. To have her here with that mindset and behaviour is important for us as well.”
Lee also impressed on the floor to snatch bronze from Alice D’Amato, who was hoping to be the first Italian to medal in this event.
The gymnastics takes a break on Friday and returns on Saturday with the men’s floor final, Biles in the women’s vault and the men’s pommel horse final.