Simone Biles led the United States to a dominant victory in the women’s gymnastics team final on Tuesday, laying the ghosts of Tokyo to rest as she claimed a fifth career Olympic gold medal. Three years after Biles battled a disorientating mental block in Tokyo, pulling out of the team final in which the United States settled for silver, she and teammates Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Sunisa Lee led wire-to-wire in reclaiming gold ahead of Italy, with Brazil taking bronze.

The Americans already had gold in hand when Biles electrified the Bercy Arena crowd with a gravity-defying floor routine that featured two of her signature skills — a double back flip with a half twist and the “triple-double” of two back flips with three twists.

The United States combined for the highest score on all four apparatus for a total of 171.296 points and a whopping 5.802-point margin over Italy.

Italy won silver in 1928, but their best result in the modern era was fourth in Tokyo.

For the Brazilian squad led by Tokyo vault gold medallist Rebeca Andrade it was a first Olympic team medal.

The Americans grabbed their third team gold in four Games after victories in 2012 and 2016.

This one was especially sweet for a quartet of gymnasts who were all in Tokyo.

For Biles it marks a return to the Olympic summit after a two-year break as she focused on her mental health. Lee, the all-around champion in Tokyo, has since dealt with two career-threatening kidney ailments.

“Simone was glad it was over for today,” coach Cecile Landi said. “The whole team hasn’t been easy, it’s had its ups and downs so to make it happen was just a relief.

“After Tokyo I’m so happy we’re here on the other side.”

Biles now has eight Olympic medals, the most of any gymnast in history, and once again the stars were out for the sport’s greatest ever.

Serena Williams, Nicole Kidman and Bill Gates were on hand, as was Biles’s husband, NFL player Jonathan Owens in a T-shirt emblazoned with his wife’s name and picture.

Fans were on their feet as soon as the United States team were introduced, Biles beaming and blowing kisses before they made their way to the vault podium.

Biles opted not to unleash her demanding double Yurchenko “Biles II” vault.

But with her sore left calf wrapped she was spot-on with her marginally less difficult Cheng vault and the US emerged from the first rotation with a 1.434-point lead over China, whose excellent opening on uneven bars included an outstanding routine from Zhang Yihan.

Competition to coronation

It was the same story as the USA moved on to uneven bars, where Lee set the pace with a routine that garnered 14.566 points.

Chiles had nailed her bars routine and let out a yell before Biles powered through her weakest event, smiling from ear to ear after earning 14.400 points.

At the halfway point, the competition had become a virtual coronation as the United States pushed their lead to 3.102 points over European champions Italy.

China, bedevilled by the consistency problems that have hurt them in the past, had started a slide that would see them eventually finish sixth.

A fall for Chiles on balance beam was barely a blip. Lee got the US back on track with a superb beam routine and Biles weathered a couple of wobbly moments on the 10cm-wide apparatus to send the Americans into their final floor exercise with a 3.602-point cushion.

This was the second of 14 artistic gymnastics titles on the line in Paris, with Japan’s Daiki Hashimoto aiming to defend his men’s all-around title on Wednesday.

Biles will be in action again on Thursday in the women’s all-around final.

Simone Biles is tipped to win her first Olympic gymnastics gold since 2016 on Tuesday, while Paris organisers postponed the men’s triathlon by a day over pollution in the Seine just hours before it was due to start. America’s Biles appears to be back at the peak of her powers as she leads the United States on what has been billed as a redemption mission in the women’s team final. The 27-year-old, considered the greatest gymnast of all time, won four gold medals at the Rio 2016 Games.

But she battled the disorientating mental block gymnasts call the “twisties” at the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Olympics three years ago.

Biles dramatically pulled out of most of her events, including the team final, and the United States settled for silver behind Russia after winning gold in 2012 and 2016.

Biles, a 23-time world champion, went home with a silver and a bronze, and while she won many plaudits for opening up on her mental health, there were critics who accused her of putting herself before her country.

“It has to be for us,” Biles said of the United States’ bid to recapture their women’s team crown.

“It can’t be for anybody else. We do it for ourselves and the love of the sport and the love for representing the USA.”

The US team topped the rankings in qualifying and Biles wowed an A-list crowd in Paris on Sunday in her first appearance in the French capital, despite tweaking her left calf and competing with her leg taped.

River pollution

The River Seine, which snakes through the French capital, is supposed to host the swimming leg of the triathlon competition, originally scheduled to begin on Tuesday morning with the men’s individual event.

But just hours before it was set to start, organisers said the race would be pushed back to Wednesday due to poor water quality. 

Heavy rain that fell in the French capital on Friday and Saturday had worsened the pollution in some areas of the river to levels “still above the acceptable limits”, said a statement issued by World Triathlon.

French officials had hoped that holding triathlon and marathon swimming on the river, lined by some of Paris’s most famous landmarks, would create enduring images of the Games.  

Organisers had already cancelled a second day of triathlon training on Monday because of the poor water quality, after the recent rainfall led to discharges of raw sewage. 

Prior to the postponement, Paris 2024 officials and World Triathlon had said they were “confident” that pollution would drop before the start of the competition given the hot, sunny weather, which helps keep bacteria levels down. 

Temperatures are due to soar to highs of 35 Celsius (95 Fahrenheit) on Tuesday, prompting weather chiefs to issue a weather warning for Paris and surrounding areas.

Irish history bid

On the fourth day of swimming, defending champion Kaylee McKeown of Australia and US world record-holder Regan Smith go head-to-head for 100m backstroke glory.

It is one of three golds up for grabs at La Defense Arena. 

The others are in the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay and the men’s 800m freestyle, in which Ireland’s Daniel Wiffen is looking to become the first man from the country to claim an Olympic swimming gold.

The world champion posted the fastest time in the heats on Monday.

The England-born 23-year-old insisted he was not fixated on gold, and with it a place in Irish folklore.

“Any medal’s good, it’s my first race here, and it’s my first time actually being in contention for an Olympic medal, so I’ll take any medal, whatever colour,” he said.

Gold medals are also up for grabs on Tuesday in fencing, judo, shooting and table tennis. 

There is also the final of the women’s rugby sevens, after France clinched the men’s title in thrilling fashion.

In tennis, the “dream team” of Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz return to action in the second round of the men’s doubles.

Simone Biles made a stunning return to Olympic competition on Sunday, powering through left calf pain to get her multiple-medal bid off to a rousing start. The US superstar, aiming to add to the four gold medals she won in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, tweaked her left calf warming up for her second apparatus, the floor exercise. It didn’t stop her from soaring through her signature Yurchenko double pike vault — now known as the Biles II — which even with a big step back on landing earned a 9.4 for execution for a massive total of 15.800 points.

She had another step back landing her second vault, but laughed as she crawled back towards her teammates on her hands and knees.

That was all it took for Biles’s coach Cecile Landi to know that for Biles “It’s on. It’s OK.”

Landi, who said Biles aggravated a minor injury she’d been dealing with for a couple of weeks, said there was never any question the superstar gymnast would not continue.

“Never in her mind, no, no. Just no,” Landi said, adding that she was also confident Biles would be ready to go for the team final on Tuesday and the individual events to follow.

Landi said Biles was already feeling better by the time she closed out her day by sticking the landing on her uneven bars routine — receiving another huge ovation and beaming as she shared a dance with teammate Jordan Chiles.

With two of the five qualifying sessions complete Biles topped the all-around standings with 59.566 points.

“It was pretty amazing, 59.5,” Landi said. “Not perfect, so she still can improve… just really good.”

Teammate Suni Lee — the Tokyo Olympics all-around champion — was in second — a promising start for the US team as they vie to regain team gold after settling for silver in Japan.

At the end of their session the USA were assured of a team finals berth with score of 172.296 points.

Italy were in second, China in third and Britain in fourth. Team medal contenders Brazil and France were scheduled to compete later.

Brazil, led by Tokyo vault gold medallist Rebeca Andrade, won world championships silver behind the United States last year.

France, led by Melanie De Jesus Dos Santos and three-time Olympian Marine Boyer, boast one of their strongest Olympic squads ever.

‘Out of this world’

But Biles remains the benchmark.

“She’s just out of this world, isn’t she?” British gymnast Ruby Evans said. “We’ve never had anyone like her before and I don’t think we ever will, ever again.”

Biles led the vault and floor exercise standings and was second in balance beam behind China’s Zhou Yaqin. Her eighth spot in uneven bars meant she could miss out on the eight-woman final of that event.

Biles withdrew from multiple events at the Tokyo Games as she battled the disorientating mental block that gymnasts call “twisties”.

She still went home with a silver and bronze and was lauded for speaking openly about mental health struggles.

After two years away, Biles returned to win four world titles last year, taking her tally to an astonishing 23.

At 27 she could become the oldest women’s all-around Olympic champion in 72 years and just the third woman to capture more than one Olympic all-around title.

‘Incredible’

The buzz was palpable at Bercy Arena, where celebrity fans included Hollywood A-listers Tom Cruise, Jessica Chastain and Greta Gerwig, pop star Ariana Grande, Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour and Olympic snowboard star Shaun White and his wife, Canadian actress Nina Dobrev.

Chants of “U-S-A” rang out even before gymnasts made their entrance for the second session of qualifying, and the roar when Biles was introduced was deafening.

She crushed every element in her opening balance beam routine, roaring through her aerial skills and spins without a wobble.

It was then she appeared to hurt herself warming up for the floor exercise, but after having her left leg taped from calf to foot Biles delivered a dynamic floor routine that featured both her Biles I double layout with half a twist and her Biles II “triple-double” of two back flips with three twists.

“It’s incredible,” US team technical lead Chellsie Memmel said. “What she was able to do looking like she has soreness or something in her leg is remarkable.”