After the United States won the gold in the team event led by the exceptional Simone Biles, the 27-year-old athlete has continued her journey to extend her historic record as the gymnast with the most medals for Team USA, and in the individual final of artistic gymnastics she won her ninth Olympic medal, and her sixth gold on Thursday night at Paris 2024.
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Under the gaze of NBA players and other great historical sports personalities attending the Bercy Arena, the gymnast showed that she had fully recovered from the mental health issues that kept her away during Tokyo 2020.
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How did Simone Biles do in the individual gymnastics final?
Biles, who had already won her first gold medal in the team event, where they scored 171.296 points on all four apparatuses, shone in the all-around (vault, uneven bars, balance beam, and floor exercise), scoring 59.131 points, which earned her the gold.
“I started therapy this morning,” Biles had said last Tuesday after the team competition, showing that she returned to the world stage with all the attitude and mental preparation necessary. “It was very exciting. I told my therapist that I felt calm and prepared.”
Brazilian Rebeca Andrade was another of the great attractions at the competition this Thursday at the Bercy Arena in Paris, along with her teammate Flávia Saraiva. The 25-year-old gymnast had helped Brazil win the bronze medal for the first time in its history in the team final and had won the silver in the all-around event at Tokyo 2020. In this final, she won the silver medal after scoring 57.932 points.
Andrade was Biles’ main rival, and in fact, after the second rotation and thanks to a mistake by the American on the uneven bars, the Brazilian was leading the competition. However, Simone Biles secured the title after the balance beam and floor exercise.
Another American, Sunisa Lee, the individual champion in Tokyo 2020, completed the podium, this time taking the bronze after a total score of 56.465.
What comes next for Simone Biles?
With six gold medals, Simone Biles has already surpassed Nadia Comaneci in the history of the Olympic Games and will seek to reach the Soviet Larisa Latynina, who won nine gold medals between 1956 and 1964.
The American gymnast is registered for the apparatus finals in vault (Saturday, August 3), balance beam (Monday, August 5), and floor (Monday, August 5).