By Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber, Karen Braun
PARIS(Reuters) -If anyone needed any confirmation about Simone Biles’ standing in gymnastics, the sparkling GOAT necklace she slipped on and ecstatically showed off to the camera after she sealed the all around title at the Paris Olympics on Thursday confirmed her status as the greatest of all-time.
The world’s most decorated gymnast clinched her sixth Olympic gold medal in front of a delirious crowd at Bercy Arena after she left all her challengers in her shade, completing a triumphant comeback three years after withdrawing from the same final at the Tokyo Games.
Aged 27, Biles edged past Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade by 1.199 points to become the oldest athlete since 1952 to win the most coveted individual title in women’s gymnastics.
“My GOAT necklace is kind of an ode … it is crazy that I am in the conversation of greatest of all athletes because I still just think that I’m Simone Biles from Spring, Texas who loves to flip,” said the American who owns a jaw-dropping 39 world and Olympic medals.
In a tight race with Andrade, Biles was surprisingly left trailing in third place after a flawed performance on the uneven bars during the second rotation.
But if Andrade had started to fantasize about becoming the first Brazilian to win the Olympic event which requires female gymnasts to excel on all four apparatus, Biles brought her back to reality just 30 minutes later as she was back on top of the standings following a solid showing on the balance beam.
On the uneven bars, Biles got too much air on her flip as she transitioned from the higher to the lower bar and had to bend both knees to avoid touching the ground.
She also needed to take an extra swing to continue her routine on the apparatus. After completing her dismount, she looked really annoyed at herself for making the error as she walked off the mat.
Awarded 13.733 points, it was the worst score she had earned across all her performances to date in Paris. In fact it was the only time she failed to breach the 14-point barrier.
“I don’t even know how I held on to that,” Biles could be heard saying immediately after the fumble.
A mistake that could have proven costly turned out to be a mere blip in Biles’ charge towards victory. By the time she stood at the edge of the mat to start her final performance, she knew the gold would be hers provided she avoided any major mishaps during her floor exercise display.
ELECTRIFYING ROUTINE
Competing last, Biles executed an electrifying routine to secure the gold with a total of 59.131 points.
Biles said having Andrade on her tail had made her nervous.
“I don’t want to compete with Rebecca no more. I’m tired. Rebeca pushes me to be my best, she’s a phenomenal athlete,” Biles said.
“She’s way too close. I’ve never had an athlete that close, so it definitely put me on my toes.
“On each event we’re very similar in scores. I was like, ‘okay, I think I have to bring out the big guns this time’,” added the American who opted to execute the more difficult Yurchenko double pike vault knowing that she would be pushed all the way by Andrade.
In a sign of great camaraderie, a beaming Andrade applauded Biles as soon as the American had struck the final pose of her floor routine, sitting on the mat with her left hand covering her face. Andrade did not need to wait for the score to flash up to know who would be crowned champion and quickly went up to hug Biles.
“It was really cool, knowing that I made her work, right?” Andrade said of Biles. “It’s an honour to be able to compete next to her.”
The Brazilian earned a second successive silver in the event, having finished behind Biles’ teammate Sunisa Lee in Tokyo.
Lee fought back from a disappointing start on the vault to claim the bronze with 56.465 points.
Three years ago in Tokyo, Biles withdrew from the event to prioritise her mental health after suffering from the “twisties”, a condition involving the temporary loss of spatial awareness that some gymnasts can experience when executing high-difficulty elements.
Her withdrawal caused concern among her vast fan base about whether she would ever set foot on the Olympic stage again.
Biles proved she was no quitter as she captured her second gold medal of the Paris Games, having led the U.S. to the team gold on Tuesday, and her second all-around Olympic title after also winning the individual event in Rio in 2016.
Biles became the first woman to win two all around titles at the Games since Vera Caslavska triumphed in 1964 and 1968.
Biles will be on the hunt for three more golds in Paris as she has also qualified for the vault, floor exercise and balance beam finals.
(Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber, Karen Braun, Chang-Ran Kim and Rory Carroll; Editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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