PARIS — “The Redemption Tour” ended in a familiar spot for Simone Biles: atop the Olympic podium. Again.
The American gymnastics star and her singular brilliance powered a dominant U.S. women’s team in the finals inside a raucous Bercy Arena on Tuesday night.
With Biles at her showstopping best, the Americans’ total of 171.296 was well clear of Italy and Brazil and was the exclamation point of a yearlong run in which Biles has cemented her legacy as the greatest ever in her sport and among the best in the history of the Olympics.
The outcome — the Americans on top with the rest of the world looking up — was not in doubt from the moment Jordan Chiles began the night by drilling her double-twisting Yurchenko vault.
By the time Biles, the left calf that bothered the 27-year-old during qualifying heavily taped, stepped onto the floor for the final event — a floor exercise set to music by Taylor Swift and Beyoncé — her fifth Olympic gold medal was well in hand.
She provided the exclamation point anyway, raising a No. 1 in the air and blowing kisses to the crowd after scoring a 14.666 to seal the Americans’ third gold in their past four trips to the Games.
All that was left was for the U.S. team to grab an American flag and jump up and down, rushing onto the floor to pose for the fans after winning gold.
The Americans remain peerless when at their best.
And over two hours in front of a crowd that included everyone from tennis great Serena Williams and actor Natalie Portman to Biles’ husband, Chicago Bears safety Jonathan Owens, Biles left little doubt about anything.
Her status as the sport’s greatest of all time. Her ability to move past the “twisties” that derailed her in Tokyo. Her spot in the pantheon of the U.S. Olympic movement.
Three years after removing herself from the same competition to protect herself — a decision that changed the conversation around mental health in sports — Biles pushed her medal total in major competition to a staggering 38 and counting.
Eight of those have come under the Olympic rings, moving her past Shannon Miller for the most by an American gymnast.
Yet her return to the Games wasn’t so much about winning. It was about a joy she had lost somewhere along the way.
It seems to have returned. She leaned into the crowd that roared at every flip, every leap and, yes, every twist. With her husband — on break from NFL training camp — waving an American flag while sitting next to her parents, Biles did what she has done so well for so long save for a couple of difficult days in Japan during a pandemic: She dominated.
Yet she hardly did it alone. Suni Lee and Chiles were on the team that earned silver in Tokyo with Biles watching from the sideline. They navigated a series of setbacks both physical and personal to return to this moment and get the gold they so badly wanted.
And there they were on the biggest stage, Chiles doing all four rotations right next to her good friend Biles while doubling as the U.S.’s hype woman. Lee mixing her elegance with grit while dazzling on beam and uneven bars, her two best events.
Jade Carey won the floor exercise in Tokyo but did it with an asterisk of sorts. She has earned her way in through a nominative process the sport’s governing body has since abandoned. She was with Team USA in Tokyo but not part of the official four-woman squad.
She vowed to write a different ending this time, and the Cheng vault she did on the first rotation scored a 14.800 — second only to Biles — to give the U.S. a commanding lead before Biles even saluted the judges.
The only real drama centered on who would finish next to the Americans on the medal stand.
Italy, which was a surprising second to the U.S. during qualifying, earned its first Olympic team medal since 1928 by holding off Brazil, which took bronze for its first medal in the biggest event in the sport.
Source Agencies
