Courtesy of the International Gymnastics Federation
All three Olympic all-around medalists are returning medalists for the first time in women’s artistic gymnastics history!
Simone Biles won her second all-around title after winning her first in 2016. Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade won her second silver medal in a row. And Suni Lee won bronze after winning the all-around title in 2020.
Every medalist here has overcome adversity and proved their resilience to get to the podium: Biles overcame mental health struggles, Andrade recovered from three ACL tears, and Lee is in remission from kidney diseases. I’m so happy for all three of these athletes!
With 6 gold medals, Biles became the American gymnast with the most Olympic gold medals. Biles is only the third woman to win two Olympic all-around gold medals. She joins an exclusive club with Larisa Latynina of the Soviet Union (1956, 1960) and Věra Čáslavská of Czechoslovakia (1964, 1968). With Biles’ gold, the United States has won the women’s Olympic all-around title 6 consecutive times! The streak began in 2004 with Carly Patterson, then continued with Nastia Liukin in 2008, Gabby Douglas in 2012, Biles in 2016, Lee in 2020, and now Biles’ second gold in the event. Biles and Lee are the only American gymnasts to win two Olympic all-around medals.
The competition was exciting, and nerve-racking, and kept us on our toes with our hearts racing from start to finish.
All three athletes began on the vault. It is not Lee’s strongest event, but all she needed was to be clean and solid and let the rest of her routines shine. And she did just that! Andrade nailed her high-flying Cheng to score a 15.100 on vault. If Biles wanted to separate herself further from the competition, she would need to compete the hardest vault in women’s gymnastics: the Biles II. Biles landed her signature vault and scored a huge 15.766! Biles led, with Andrade behind her, after the first rotation.
The uneven bars are where the competition got interesting. Kaylia Nemour of Algeria, who is expected to win gold on bars, scored a 15.533 with the most difficult bar routine in this year’s Olympics. Suni Lee, in her element, had a beautiful bar routine of her own. Biles made a mistake in the middle of her routine and fell to third place after the second rotation, behind Andrade and Nemour.
Biles got back on track with her balance beam routine, which put her back in first place with only a 0.166 lead over Andrade. Lee’s routine helped her continue to climb the standings, with one rotation to go she was tied for fourth place with Nemour, behind Biles, Andrade, and Italy’s Alice D’Amato. Gold and silver were all but certain between Biles and Andrade, while the last medal was anybody’s game.
D’Amato was first up on the floor exercise. She posted a score of 13.500, which meant, with the near guarantee of Biles and Andrade medaling, Lee and Nemour would need a 13.535 to secure a medal. When Lee stuck her first pass, she broke into a smile, and we all knew she’d win her second Olympic all-around medal. She scored a 13.666 to win the bronze. Andrade dazzled in her floor routine to secure silver. Just like in the Team Final, the last routine of the competition, which would go on to win the gold medal, was Biles’ floor routine. Biles smiled as she landed each tumbling pass, and without a doubt, the gold was once again hers.
Courtesy of Getty Images
Edited By: Bailey Massey
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