Olympics 2024: Simone Biles© AFP
Simone Biles recaptured the Olympic all-around crown on Thursday, seeing off Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade for her sixth Olympic gold and second in Paris. Biles, who famously withdrew from multiple events at the Tokyo Games three years ago with the disorientating “twisties”, followed up her team gold with the United States earlier this week. Defending Olympic champion Sunisa Lee took bronze. The 27-year-old Biles became the first gymnast to reclaim the individual title, which she won in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.
She capped her performance with another electrifying floor routine to Taylor Swift’s hit song “Ready for It”, her high-flying tumbling bringing the crowd to its feet.
She scored 59.131 points to finish 1.199 ahead of Andrade with 21-year-old Lee sealing bronze with her floor routine having trailed in fourth going into the final rotation. It was the first time that two women’s Olympic all-around champions have gone head-to-head chasing a second crown.
The United States have now won the event six times in a row — and a record seven times overall. Biles has now won nine Olympic medals including six golds.
She could add three more in Paris as she competes in the apparatus finals on the vault, floor exercise and balance beam.
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