Simone Biles Kicked Off Her Paris Olympic Gold Medal Journey

Simone Biles and U.S. women’s gymnastics stars Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey, and Hezly Rivera are back on top of the podium after sealing their first gold in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Simone Biles once again proved her legacy as the greatest American gymnast by securing five gold medals and an overall 8 Olympic medals and 38 medals in international competition at the age of 27, surpassing the legendary gymnast, Shannon Miller.

Biles called Paris a “redemption tour” because it is the first Olympic gold for her since Rio 2016. Three years ago in Tokyo, she was pulled out of several events because of a disorienting mental block called ‘Twisties’. Later, she went on to express her thoughts at the Olympic trials in Minneapolis, saying, “I feel like we all have more to give, and our Tokyo performances weren’t the best.” “We weren’t under the best circumstances, either, but I feel like we have a lot of weight on our shoulders to go out there and prove that we’re better athletes.”

The team put up solid scores on all events, like vault, balance beam, and bars. Biles was the last person to perform. Biles, this time, completed the cheng vault in her final performance, even with a tweaked muscle in her calf. She also said that “after I finished vaulting, I was relieved.”” I was like, ‘Phew!’ No flashbacks or anything. I did feel a lot of relief. “As soon as I landed vault, I was like, ‘Definitely, we’re going to do this.’”

Biles scored the remaining points that were needed to win with her amazing performance. Simone was so good that even her competitors were rooting for her to win. Here’s a breakdown of her scores:

Vault: 14.900

Uneven bars: 14.400

Floor: 14.666

Beam: 14.366 (6.400 in difficulty, 7.966 in execution)

She clinched the gold with dazzling staging in the final floor exercise, which gave the U.S. a staggering score of 171.296.