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PARIS — Right in the middle of her uneven bar routine, Simone Biles found herself sailing a little too far away from the high bar that she desperately needed to grip. Gymnastics can be the cruelest of sports, where the slightest of errors can lead to the biggest of falls, even for the greatest of all-time.
She was able to hold on, but that upset her transition to the low bar, forcing Biles to pull her legs up to just miss touching the mat.
“I don’t know how I held on,” she said moments later to fellow American Sunisa Lee.
Biles' momentum was thrown though, her routine off kilter. The judges wouldn’t be kind, giving her a meager 13.733, a full 0.700 below her qualifying score.
Just like that, Biles was in third place, trailing Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade and Algeria’s Kaylia Nemour in the women’s all-around competition with just two disciplines (beam and floor) to go.
In a sport she has lorded over for a decade, Biles suddenly needed to be the Comeback GOAT.
And so that’s what she became.
Biles went out and delivered a brilliant effort on beam (14.566) including sticking a full-twisting double back dismount. It pushed her back into first as Andrade bobbled slightly and couldn’t keep up with Biles superior degree of difficulty (6.400 to 6.100).
With a slight lead — 0.166 — but an extreme advantage in difficulty — 0.900 above Andrade’s — Biles was in an excellent spot, but in need of an electric execution under extreme pressure. No problem.
Her signature soaring tumbling passes sent her to gold and left a packed and celebrity-rich Bercy Arena crowd to go wild. Needing better than 13.867 on floor to claim gold, Biles scored 15.066 to overtake Andrade by 1.199. It was an epic performance in what is possibly the last all-around competition of Biles' legendary career.
In defeating Andrade, who took silver, Biles became just the third woman to become a two-time all-around Olympic champion and the first since 1968.
Lee, the all-around champion at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, needed better than a 13.5 on floor to move past Italy's Alice D'Amato to claim bronze. Lee nailed her routine, earning a 13.666 to land herself on the podium.
This was a real competition, not just some coronation. Credit Andrade for that. The 25-year-old also won silver at the 2021 Tokyo Games and has enjoyed a longstanding friendly rivalry with Biles — the two took turns cheering each other on Thursday.
Andrade was a rock throughout, steady performance after steady performance, often exceeding her score in qualifying. She put herself in place to win if Biles stumbled.
Biles just wouldn’t stumble enough. When the gold was on the line, the 27-year-old rose up to be her best.
In doing so, Biles also continued the United States streak of domination in this event to six consecutive Olympics — Carly Patterson (2004), Nastia Liukin (2008), Gabby Douglas (2012), Biles (2016), Lee (2021).
She is the first woman to win her second all-around gold in non-consecutive fashion. Larisa Latynina of the Soviet Union won in 1956 and 1960. Czechoslovakia’s Věra Čáslavská won in 1964 and 1968, when the sport bore little resemblance to its current athletic state.
Biles will return to action to compete in the individual finals in vault on Saturday and beam and floor on Monday. Lee will compete in the bars and beam finals.
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