Simone Biles cemented her status as the best gymnast in the world at the 2024 Paris Olympics. During the qualifying round, Biles' overall score was untouchable, as she held nearly a two-point lead in first place over Brazil's Rebeca Andrade.
After winning gold during the Team Final, Biles competed in the individual all-around competition. During the first rotation, she performed the Yurchenko double pike, also known as "The Biles II," which is the most difficult skill in the entire competition. She scored a 15.766 and entered the uneven bars rotation in first place.
Midway through her routine, which she performed perfectly during the qualifying round on July 28, Biles had too much power on her Pak salto transition down to the lower bar and nearly touched the floor. She saved herself by bending her knees, but this error marked a huge score deduction. Biles fell to third place for the first time in her entire career.
In an interview former Olympian Aly Raisman, Biles admitted she was way more nervous before the All-Around Final than before the Team Final.
"I felt pretty good warming up, but not like I did on Team," Biles told Raisman . "So, I really had to calm my nerves and make sure I was in a good headspace before I went out.
"I didn't do the best bars routine, I had to like recenter and refocus myself so that I had a good rest of the meet. But it was crazy. The nerves were there and apparent."
Raisman, who competed alongside Biles during the 2016 Rio Olympics, pressed the nine-time national champion on how she recalibrated after falling to third place.
Biles replied, "I didn't even see it (at first). I had to look up to my husband Jonathan (Owens, who famously takes score during all of her meets), and be like 'What place am I in?' But no, I haven't ever been in a position like that."
Biles, who's spoken at length about her weekly therapy sessions, revealed the mental work she's done paid off. "I just had to go over there and work on my cues, think about what my therapist has told me if I'm ever feeling anxious or whatnot.
"So, that's the kind of thing I was doing whenever you saw me sitting there and people were like, 'What is she doing?' And I felt like I was praying to every god there was. But other than that, I was re-centering myself thinking of, 'What helps me?'"
Biles bounced back on beam and floor to finish the day with an overall 59.131 score, clinching the gold medal and becoming the first woman in history to win that title in nonconsecutive Olympics. Andrade earned silver with a 57.932 score, and Team USA's Suni Lee won bronze (56.465)
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