VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ, France — Simone Biles recaptured the Olympic all-around crown, seeing off Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade for her sixth Olympic gold and second in Paris.
Biles, who famously withdrew from multiple events at the Tokyo Games three years ago with the disorientating “twisties”, followed up her team gold with the United States earlier this week. Defending Olympic champion Sunisa Lee took bronze.
The 27-year-old Biles became the first gymnast to reclaim the individual title, which she won in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games. “I was praying to all of the gods trying to refocus, recenter and finish the competition,” Biles said after the struggle on bars, scoring a 13.733, just 17th-best in the competition.
She capped her performance with another electrifying floor routine to Taylor Swift’s hit song “Ready for It”, her high-flying tumbling bringing the crowd to its feet.
She scored 59.131 points to finish 1.199 ahead of Andrade with 21-year-old Lee sealing bronze with her floor routine having trailed in fourth going into the final rotation.
It was the first time that two women’s Olympic all-around champions have gone head-to-head chasing a second crown.
The United States have now won the event six times in a row – and a record seven times overall.
Biles has now won nine Olympic medals including six golds.
She could add three more in Paris as she competes in the apparatus finals on the vault, floor exercise and balance beam.
The 27-year-old returned to the top of the podium Tuesday with team gold, her eighth Olympic medal, five of them gold, to become the most decorated US Olympic gymnast.
Biles, the reigning world champion, wants to do it in style with a new skill on uneven bars that would be the sixth unique skill named after her.
But Biles faces a stiff challenge from teammate Sunisa Lee, reigning Olympic all-around champion, who is on a comeback trail every bit as compelling as her compatriot.
Lee was diagnosed with two undisclosed kidney conditions in early 2023. However, she declared herself “in remission” in April and counts herself stronger than she was in Tokyo.
She opened her all around account on the vault. After powering down the runway, Biles launched off the vault to execute a soaring Yurchenko double pike.
The 27-year-old took a step back on her landing but that did not take the gloss off her spectacular effort and the judges rewarded her with 15.766 points, the highest of her rotation.
Biles is being chased by Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade, who finished second to Biles in qualifying and earned 15.100 on the vault.
Biles, the most decorated gymnast of all-time, made her much-anticipated return to the Olympic stage when she topped the all-around qualifying standings by a solid margin and also finished as the leading contender for the floor exercise and vault finals.
Biles is favourite to win a second Olympic gold in the all-around following her success at the 2016 Rio Games.
Three years ago she withdrew from the event in Tokyo 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.
Another top contender is Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade, who said it was an honour just to compete against Biles.
“She’s a reference, a role model for the whole world, gymnastics and athletes alike to see how happy she is to compete. That’s what sport is all about,” said Andrade.
French superstar Marchand showed few ill-effects from his extraordinary double gold on a pulsating night in the Olympic pool on Wednesday, cruising through his 200m individual medley heat.
The 22-year-old, hoping to win a fourth gold, is fast becoming the home nation’s Olympic pin-up and fans again went wild when he entered the La Defense Arena, cheering his every stroke.
