Simone Biles has made history again by becoming the oldest gymnast to win an Olympic gold medal in the individual all-around.
American gymnast Simone Biles has made history again by winning her second Olympic gold medal in the individual all-around.
Biles was already the most decorated gymnast even before the 2024 Paris Olympics began, and she shone brightly by becoming just the third woman to win the Olympic individual all-around title twice. Her overall score of 59.131 was just one point higher than Brazil’s Rebecca Andrade’s 57.932 and one of the closest scores Biles has ever achieved at a major international competition.
But it was enough for the 27-year-old to win her second gold medal of the Paris Games and her sixth overall. Biles also broke the limits by becoming the oldest woman to win the largest title in her sport since 1952.
The last 12 champions of versatile Olympic women were adolescents. The last non-teenager to win, Lyudmila Turishcheva, turned 20 a few weeks before her triumph in 1972.
Biles’ victory is a testament to her longevity as a record-breaking athlete, and after her surprise withdrawal from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, it also establishes her as a champion for mental health. At the time, she was suffering from what is known in gymnastics circles as “twisties,” a potentially life-threatening condition that causes athletes to lose sensation in the air and be unable to land.
Biles, a sexual assault victim, went into hiding for about two years, during which she focused on rehabilitation and mental health. Her struggles to return from Tokyo are chronicled in the new Netflix documentary, The Rise of Simone Biles, which also offers insight into Biles’ married life.
Biles, wearing a silver goat chain (standing for GOAT, or “greatest of all time”), said of her win: “It’s crazy that I’m in the conversation about ‘greatest of all time,’ athletes,” and “Think: ‘My name is Simone Biles from Spring, Texas, and I love to flip.'”
The race against Brazil’s Andrade was so close that Biles said, “I don’t want to race Rebecca anymore. “I’m tired, she’s too close. I have never had such a close athlete. \ “
Best was afraid of being captured by and trading, so he made his last decision to call for Yurchenko’s double pike jump.
\ “I think I have to mention a big gun this time, \ ‘\,” she said. She was the only woman to land the ultra-difficult jump, also known as the Biles II, which earned her an astounding score of 15.766 points and made up for a mistake on the uneven bars in her second rotation. \ “When I see how my account came after the bar, I thank God. I made a double pike today because I didn’t plan this. “
Biles has turned the music of Pop-Icon Taylor Swift and Beyonca with the current routine set of 75 seconds. And she delivered the most difficult jump ever performed by a woman in the history of the sport.
When asked about the eight-year gap between winning the all-around gold medal, Biles said, “It feels amazing.” I was a little naive about this process, so I appreciate my work a little more.
