In a performance pristine enough to hang in the Louvre, Simone Biles took gold in the women’s individual all-around competition at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris on Thursday.
Accruing a store of 59.131, she edged out Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade by 1.199 points for her sixth gold medal and ninth career Olympic medal, making her the most successful gymnast in American history.
Biles becomes the first American with multiple all-around golds and the first woman in 56 years to do so. At 27 years old, she is also the oldest to win the event since 1952.
The gymnastics legend clinched her latest gold with a dazzling floor routine that earned a score of 15.066 just moments after Andrade took the lead from fellow American Suni Lee — the defending all-around champion from the Tokyo Games after Biles opted to bow out after contending with a bout of the twisties.
Biles took an early lead after the first rotation, which came on the vault when she posted a monster score of 15.766. Andrade was the only other gymnast in the headlining rotation to post a score of 15 or higher.
Andrade countered with a strong routine on the uneven bars to take a slim lead after the second rotation, which was short-lived.
Biles came back with a 14.566 on the balance beam, ensuring she needed a score of just over 13.867 on the floor exercise to claim gold, which she did so with the power, style, and flair that the gymnastics world has become so accustomed to seeing over the last eight years.
