‘Put me on my toes’: Simone Biles reflects on Olympic Gold win
Simone Biles is once again the Olympic gold medalist in individual all-around gymnastics after winning one of the most dramatic finals of these Paris Olympics.
Biles held off a spirited challenge from brilliant Brazilian Rebeca Andrade, who once again won silver and Biles’ teammate Suni Lee took the bronze.
Here are four takeaways from Thursday’s all-around gymnastics final.
For a brief moment, it looked like Biles might be in deep trouble.
A stumble on the uneven bars dropped her into third place halfway through the final as Andrade, the silver medalist in Tokyo three years ago, looked like she might be ready to seize the moment.
“That’s not the bars that I’ve been training,” Biles said afterward. “Out of all of the events, I think bars is the one that I haven’t messed up on like once the whole entire training, here or back in Houston.”
These Games have been all about Biles. She is the glowing sun around which these gymnastics competitions have revolved. The questions about whether she could come back from her stunning experience with the ‘twisties’ in Tokyo were answered on Tuesday. A new question was suddenly being asked: was the Brazilian Andrade just simply going to be better tonight?
On the next rotation, Biles leapt onto the balance beam and emphatically served up an answer: no.
