PARIS(Reuters) – Simone Biles clinched her sixth Olympic gold medal in front of an ecstatic crowd at the Paris Games on Thursday, reasserting her status as the number one all around gymnast three years after she withdrew from the same final at the Tokyo Games.
In a tight race between Biles and Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade, the American was surprising left trailing in third place after a flawed performance on the uneven bars.
But she was back on top after a solid performance on her next apparatus – the balance beam.
As she waited to perform last on the floor, she knew the gold would be hers if she avoided any unexpected slip ups.
She executed an electrifying routine to secure the gold with a total of 59.131 points, just 1.199 points ahead of her Brazilian rival.
Andrade earned a second successive silver in the competition where each gymnasts needs to show off their skills on all four women’s apparatus.
Biles’ teammate Sunisa Lee, the Tokyo all-around champion, fought back from a disappointing start on the vault to claim thee bronze with 56.465 points.
Biles captured her second gold medal of the Paris Games, and her second all-around Olympic title after also winning the individual event in Rio in 2016. She also claimed the team gold earlier this week.
Biles, the most decorated gymnast of all-time, withdrew from the event in Tokyo to prioritise her mental health after suffering from the “twisties”, a condition involving the temporary loss of spatial awareness that some gymnasts can experience when executing high-difficulty elements.
Her withdrawal caused concern among her vast fan base about whether she would ever set foot on the Olympic stage again.
(Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber, Karen Braun, Chang-Ran Kim and Rory Carroll; Editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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