Current:Home > MarketsSimone Biles edges Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade for her second Olympic all-around gymnastics title-DB Wealth Institute B2 Expert Reviews
Simone Biles edges Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade for her second Olympic all-around gymnastics title
View Date:2024-12-23 20:43:24
PARIS (AP) — Simone Biles remains peerless. Even when she’s not quite perfect.
The American gymnastics star edged Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade during a tense Olympic all-around final Thursday. Biles’ total of 59.131 was just over a point ahead of Andrade at 57.932, one of the closest calls Biles has ever endured at a major international event.
Sunisa Lee, the Tokyo Olympics champion, earned bronze despite spending much of the last 15 months dealing with multiple kidney diseases that left her return to the Games very much in doubt.
Still, the meet ended just like all the ones Biles has started and finished over the last 11 years: with hugs and gold on the way.
And a silver goat chain — along with a gold medal — around the Greatest of All Time’s neck.
“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,’” she said.
The margin was the smallest in a major international event since Biles captured the third of her record six world championships in 2015.
She was a teenager then. She’s an icon now.
The 27-year-old who is redefining what a gymnast can do — and just as notably, for how long she can do it — became the third woman to become a two-time Olympic champion, joining Larisa Latynina of the Soviet Union in 1956 and 1960 and Vera Caslavska of Czechoslovakia in 1964 and 1968.
Biles also is the oldest woman to claim the biggest title in her sport since then 30-year-old Maria Gorokhovskaya of the Soviet Union won the first-ever Olympic all-around in Melbourne in 1952.
Yet the sixth gold and ninth overall medal — the same as Romanian great Nadia Comaneci, who was among the star-studded crowd that included the U.S. men’s basketball team — of Biles’ unparalleled career did not come as easy as so many that came before.
Paris Olympics
- Simone Biles, fresh off leading the U.S. women’s gymnastics team back to the gold medal in team competition, returns to the mat.
- Take a look at everything else to watch on Day 7.
- See AP’s top photos from the 2024 Paris Olympics.
- Olympic schedule of events and follow all of AP’s coverage of the Summer Games.
- Which countries are in the lead? Take a look at the Olympic medal tracker.
- Want more? Sign up for our daily Postcards from Paris newsletter.
She misjudged a transition on uneven bars, the weakest of her four events, letting go of the upper bar too soon and forcing her to reach for a larger-than-expect gap.
While she didn’t fall — Biles muscled her way back into the routine — it blunted her momentum and led to major deductions that left her trailing Andrade through two rotations.
The deficit didn’t last.
Biles responded with a largely wobble-free 14.566 on the balance beam, the highest of the night among the 24 finalists, while Andrade was forced to do a major balance check during her slightly easier set that dropped her down to second heading into floor exercise, Biles’ signature event.
Andrade, the silver medalist behind Lee in 2021, needed the best floor set of her life to catch Biles. It didn’t quite happen. Andrade stepped out of bounds at one point, a minor problem but enough to create plenty of wiggle room for Biles.
“I don’t want to compete with Rebeca no more,” Biles said. “I’m tired. Like, she’s way too close. I’ve never had an athlete that close.”
Biles incorporated music from pop icons Taylor Swift and Beyonce into her current routine, a 75-second set that began with the opening bars of Swift’s hit “Ready For It?” and featured the hardest tumbling done by a woman in the history of the sport.
When she was done — sealing gold that served as a redemption of sorts three years after pulling out of multiple finals in Tokyo to focus on her mental health — Biles sprinted to hug Lee just off the podium and blew kisses to the cameras that have become fixtures wherever she goes under the Olympic rings.
After the final score was announced, Biles and Lee — both Olympic champions — bolted onto the floor, waving an American flag. Lee, the Tokyo winner with Biles sidelined, is the first to win gold in all-around one Games then earn another medal in the next since Comaneci in 1976 and ’80.
While there may be more medals on the way — Biles is in three event finals later in the Games — the all-around puts her into the conversation as perhaps the greatest American Olympian ever.
Biles is no longer the prodigy who triumphed in Rio de Janeiro eight years ago.
She’s married and a vocal advocate for survivors of sexual abuse and the importance of proper mental health. She openly volunteered after the Americans won gold in the team final on Tuesday that she met with her personal therapist that morning to help get her in the right mindset.
Biles relied on the internal work she’s done over the years after that rocky bars routine. She sat with her legs crossed on a chair in her blue sequined leotard and closed her eyes, immune to the cameras that followed her every move.
When she opened them, she was ready to move on.
It’s what she does. She has said repeatedly over the last three years that what happened in Tokyo is a part of her past, not a part of her present, and if critics have a problem with it, that’s their issue, not hers.
She’s moved on to bigger things. Like setting a standard that may never be reached.
In her sport. And maybe all others, too.
___
AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
veryGood! (72)
Related
- Olivia Munn Randomly Drug Tests John Mulaney After Mini-Intervention
- COINIXIAI Introduce
- 25 monkeys caught but more still missing after escape from research facility in SC
- Brianna LaPaglia Reacts to Rumors Dave Portnoy Paid Her $10 Million for a Zach Bryan Tell-All
- Anti-abortion advocates press Trump for more restrictions as abortion pill sales spike
- Sister Wives' Janelle Brown Details to Meri Why She Can't Trust Ex Kody and His Sole Wife Robyn
- These Michael Kors’ Designer Handbags Are All Under $150 With an Extra 22% off for Singles’ Day
- Singles' Day vs. Black Friday: Which Has the Best Deals for Smart Shoppers?
- High-scoring night in NBA: Giannis Antetokounmpo explodes for 59, Victor Wembanyama for 50
- Question of a lifetime: Families prepare to confront 9/11 masterminds
Ranking
- Melissa Gilbert recalls 'painful' final moment with 'Little House' co-star Michael Landon
- Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul stirs debate: Is this a legitimate fight?
- Get Your Home Holiday-Ready & Decluttered With These Storage Solutions Starting at $14
- Inside Dream Kardashian's Sporty 8th Birthday Party
- Kentucky governor says investigators will determine what caused deadly Louisville factory explosion
- Reds honor Pete Rose with a 14-hour visitation at Great American Ball Park
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, 4G
- 'SNL' stars jokingly declare support for Trump, Dana Carvey plays Elon Musk
Recommendation
-
Princess Kate makes rare public appearance after completing cancer chemo
-
COINIXIAI Introduce
-
Will Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul end in KO? Boxers handle question differently
-
Trump's election has women swearing off sex with men. It's called the 4B movement.
-
Ben Affleck and His Son Samuel, 12, Enjoy a Rare Night Out Together
-
4 charged in Detroit street shooting that left 2 dead, 5 wounded
-
Suspect arrested after deadly Tuskegee University homecoming shooting
-
Michael Jordan and driver Tyler Reddick come up short in bid for NASCAR championship