AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Another day, another medal for the amazing Simone Biles at the Summer Olympics. Two days after leading the U.S. back to the gold medal in the gymnastics team all-around, she was back for the individual version of that event today in Paris. And she won again, her ninth-ever Olympic medal and her sixth gold. But unlike many of her other medals, this one did not come quite so easily. NPR sports correspondent Becky Sullivan was there - lucky you, Becky - and joins us now.
BECKY SULLIVAN, BYLINE: (Laughter).
CHANG: OK. So Biles did end up winning the gold medal. But what happened tonight that...
SULLIVAN: Yeah.
CHANG: ...Gave her a scare?
SULLIVAN: So yeah. So she was definitely the favorite coming in, but she was facing the gymnast who has been maybe the closest competitor she has had in her career. This is the Brazilian Rebeca Andrade. And they were competing on rotations together. So they started on the vault, which is Biles' best event, on which Biles performed her signature routine, which is called a Yurchenko double pike. And this is literally the most difficult vault that has ever been performed in women's gymnastics, which means it can score higher, too. So she had this healthy lead.
But then coming up next was the uneven bars. And if you could say that Biles has a weakness, it is the uneven bars. And she did have a bad performance tonight. And so at one point, when she was trying to swing from the high bar to the low bar, she lost her momentum, and her knees almost touched the mat.
CHANG: Oh.
SULLIVAN: And that was a - it caused a very low score for her, and she dropped to third place. And so here's how she described that moment. Let's listen.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SIMONE BILES: When I saw the score come up, I was like, oh, goodness. I was like, whew, thank God we did the double pike today because I wasn't planning on it. But I just knew how phenomenal of an athlete she is, so I was like, OK, I think I have to bring out the big guns this time.
CHANG: The big guns. OK, then what happened?
SULLIVAN: So after the close start, they went to balance beam. Biles was good, but it was still neck and neck. And it all came down to the floor routine. And by that point in the night, basically all the other gymnasts were done. And so it was just everybody in the arena watching Andrade go, and then it ended with Biles. And she basically just needed to hit her normal routine without any major errors. And so as she landed each skill successfully, the crowd was getting louder and louder. And by the time she came in for the last pass, I could tell from all the way up in the stands that she was already smiling because it was clear that she was...
CHANG: Aw.
SULLIVAN: ...Going to win. And she did, by about a point. It was really just an amazing moment.
CHANG: Oh, my God, incredible. It is incredible, though, that Simone Biles was genuinely worried about coming...
SULLIVAN: She was.
CHANG: ...In second. Well, tell us more about this competitor, Rebeca Andrade.
SULLIVAN: Yeah. So this is - she is the best gymnast in Brazilian history. And her own story is actually pretty amazing because she has had not one, not two but three tears of her ACL.
CHANG: Oh, my God.
SULLIVAN: She has overcome them all to reach this point. And so just the other day, she helped lead Brazil to the country's first-ever team medal in women's gymnastics earlier this week. They won bronze. And she really is just the only gymnast capable of coming even close to going toe-to-toe with Biles. And so afterward, Biles was very complimentary of her. Let's listen to that, too.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BILES: I don't want to compete with Rebeca no more. I'm tired. Like, she's way too close. I've never had an athlete that close, so it definitely put me on my toes. And it brought out the best athlete in myself, so I'm excited and proud to compete with her. But I don't like it no more. It's - I'm getting uncomfortable, guys. Like, I don't like that feeling. I was stressing.
(LAUGHTER)
SULLIVAN: And Andrade had similarly generous things to say about Biles. And in my opinion, that's really what makes the Olympics so special - to see these people competing at such a high level and paying respect to what everybody else is bringing to the table.
CHANG: Totally. OK, well, the U.S. actually won two medals in this event. Biles won gold, and then her teammate won bronze.
SULLIVAN: Yep.
CHANG: How did it all wrap up?
SULLIVAN: Yeah. So the teammate you're talking about - that's Suni Lee. She was the darling of the Tokyo Olympics back in 2021 who came to the rescue of Team USA after Biles had to pull out due to the pressure sort of getting to her and causing some psychological issues with her gymnastics. And so Biles had pulled out of a bunch of events, including this one, the individual all-around. And that's where Suni Lee stepped up. She won gold back in Tokyo. It was really a beautiful moment for Team USA then. And Lee said tonight that she wasn't expecting to be able to repeat that with Biles back in the mix, but the bronze was still quite the achievement.
CHANG: Totally. Well, Biles is competing three more times, right?
SULLIVAN: She is.
CHANG: Like, as great as she's already been, it's still not over for her.
SULLIVAN: Yeah, no, that's right. She has three more. She's going to perform on vault. Then she's going to go again on beam, and then she's going to go again on floor exercise. So that could be three more medals for her.
CHANG: That is NPR's Becky Sullivan. Thank you so much, Becky.
SULLIVAN: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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