American gymnast Simone Biles returned to the Games in Paris 2024, cheered by a devoted Bercy Arena that saw the North American star, Olympic champion in Rio 2016, smile again. She was the best in the qualifiers in the French capital and will fight for four medals, although in the vault exercise she gave a scare when she suffered a physical problem in her ankle.
The winner of 37 medals between the Games and the World Championships has returned to her best form in her return to top competition and in Paris she is ready to climb to the top step of the podium in all five finals. When the name of the 27-year-old gymnast was announced for the first time over the loudspeakers at the Bercy Arena, the noise from the 15,000 spectators was thunderous, and the American put her smile back on her face.
Biles started on the beam, her least favorable event, with an impressive triple twist and two perfect somersaults that allowed her to add 14.733 points, a score that, curiously, did not ultimately earn her a place in the final, as she finished ninth.
However, she did not fail on the other events. Her floor routine received the highest score of the Games, 14.600, far ahead of the second-placed Brazilian Rebeca Andrade (13.900), while she then had a scare on the vault.
After three painful attempts, she decided to go ahead with a heavy bandage on her ankle and that did not prevent her from reaching a superb height on the first attempt, although the landing was not perfect. Her second jump was more conservative, but she completed the double twist, despite the obvious pain she felt on landing, to end up scoring 15.300, the best again ahead of Andrade (14.683).
Finally, Biles also shined on the balance beam, where she finished second with 14.733 points, only surpassed by China’s Yaquin Zhou (14.866). The American finished with the best score (59.566) heading into the individual all-around final, with Rebeca Andrade in second place (57.700) and Biles’ teammate Sunisa Lee in third place (56.132).
The star American gymnast was in charge of leading her country’s dominance in the team competition with 172.296 points, more than five ahead of Italy (166.861), China (166.628) and Brazil (166.499), the four teams that seem destined to fight for the medals.
