Days after an injury scare, Simone Biles and her U.S. women’s artistic gymnastics teammates took home gold in the team finals. It was their first medal in the Paris 2024 Olympics and marked an incredible comeback for the history-making athlete and Team USA.
Italy placed second, finishing the final with 165.494 points to Team USA’s 171.296. It was Italy’s first Olympic medal in women’s gymnastics, and its first overall Olympic medal in gymnastics in nearly a century. Team Brazil won bronze, finishing just one point behind Italy.
The women’s artistic gymnastics team final took place Tuesday at the Bercy Arena and featured Biles along with her American teammates Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Sunisa Lee. It was an important competition for the American athletes, who are all returning to the Olympics this year after appearing in previous Games, and especially for Biles, who was forced to withdraw from competition in 2020 because of a dangerous mental block that led her to withdraw from the race.
Biles and Chiles competed in the uneven bars, vault, balance beam and floor exercise events, while Lee competed in every round except vault, which was Carey’s only event. Only one member of Team USA did not compete in Tuesday’s competition — 16-year-old Hezly Rivera, who is making her Olympic debut this year and still accepted a gold medal alongside her teammates at the awards ceremony.
Team USA was the overwhelming favorite to win the final after winning back-to-back golds at the Summer Olympics in London and Rio in 2012 and 2016, and claiming a silver medal in the team competition in Tokyo last time out.
After delivering standout routines on vault, uneven bars and balance beam, Team USA performed its expected floor exercises in the fourth and final rotation of the gymnastics final. An American trio of Olympic veterans were expected to command the floor, with Biles at the helm, and all three did their part to rise to the occasion.
Lee was the first American gymnast to perform on floor exercise, and she completed a powerful routine with visible excitement as she left the mat. Her family cheered loudly in the stands, as did the rest of the stadium. Lee earned an impressive 13.9 on the exercise, which is valued at 14 points. Chiles also nailed her floor routine, coming closest to that perfect score with a 13.966.
Biles closed out the finals with a spectacular floor routine performed to a full standing ovation. It was arguably the most anticipated performance of Tuesday’s team competition, and Biles delivered. Her routine included several of Biles’ trademark gymnastics moves, including her first namesake, a double layout with a half-spin and a triple-double.
The exercise solidified Team USA’s victory before Biles’ score was even revealed. She blew a kiss to the crowd as people chanted, “USA!”
Earlier, Biles’ balance beam routine drew thunderous applause from a crowd that included Olympic swimming legend Michael Phelps and film director Spike Lee. Lee and Biles delivered solid performances on the balance beam that earned critical high marks after Chiles fell off the equipment during her balance beam routine, which came before theirs. Her fall was Team USA’s only notable mistake throughout the finals, where the American athletes brought top-notch routines that continued to put them ahead of their competitors in every round.
Team USA — which had the highest scores in the qualifying round over the weekend — competed in the finals against gymnasts from seven other teams that placed well in the qualifying rounds: Italy, China, Brazil, Japan, Canada, Great Britain and Romania. The finals feature three gymnasts from each team competing in each gymnastics category.
Lee is the reigning all-around champion. But in the team finals, the scores of all three gymnasts are considered together. These parameters make the finals especially challenging, as they leave little room for error by any competing athlete, raising the stakes of the heats where all four athletes competed and the scores of the lowest-scoring athlete were subtracted from the team total.
Biles, 27, made her highly anticipated return last weekend in the qualifying rounds and dominated despite a calf injury that caused her to limp. Women’s gymnastics coach Cecille Landi, a former Olympian from France, told reporters after the qualifying session that Biles had sprained her calf a few weeks ago and was recovering.
The coach noted that Biles had no intention of stepping away from the competition, saying, “It never crossed her mind.”
Team USA finished Sunday’s qualifying session with an impressive score of 172.296, putting them at the top of the group heading into the final, with Biles herself leaving the qualifiers as the highest individual scorer among all competing teams.
Biles, heralded as the Greatest of All Time, or GOAT, in gymnastics, is currently in her third Olympics. It is her first since experiencing the “twisties,” a phenomenon in which gymnasts lose their sense of place in the air, which forced her to withdraw from several events during the Tokyo Olympics.
Tuesday’s win makes Biles the most decorated American Olympic gymnast, surpassing Shannon Miller’s seven medals, with the team gold being her eighth Olympic medal. It also ties her with Anton Heida, a 1904 Olympian, for the most gold medals won by an American gymnast.
This story was originally published in July 30, 2024 at 3:37 PM EST by CBS News.
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