Simone Biles secures gold for her second Olympic all-around gymnastics title
(NEXSTAR) — Fresh off their gold medal in team competition on Tuesday, Simone Biles and the U.S. women's gymnasts took to the mat Thursday to compete for all-around gold.
Biles, 27, entered the event hoping to become the oldest women's all-around champion since 1952. She also came in with an 11-year unbeaten streak — a total of 33 competitions — in the all-around in meets she has started and finished into the finals. If that wasn't enough, Biles was also poised to shatter a 120-year-old record.
After a performance only Biles could pull off, her streak — and her legacy — will live on.
Biles jumped out to a quick lead on the vault, scoring 15.766, pushing her ahead of Brazilian star Rebeca Andrade. The lead was fleeting though, after a miscue threw off Biles' momentum on the uneven bars, prompting a score of 13.733.
That dropped her to third place behind Andrade and France's Kaylia Nemour heading into the balance beam.
Biles left the beam, apparently exhaling a sigh of relief, after a seemingly successful routine that earned her a 14.566. It bumped her to the lead partway through rotation three.
It was the floor exercise that ultimately ended the gold medal hunt.
Lee — who needed to complete the "routine of her lifetime" to medal, according to former Olympian Laurie Hernandez, who was calling the event on NBC's broadcast — landed a 13.666 score on the floor. That guaranteed her a medal before Biles even touched the floor.
Biles took the floor last on Thursday. Heading in with a score of 44.065, she needed to maintain her lead from the first three events. More specifically, she needed to score at least 13.867 on the floor to secure the top spot.
After a Biles-like routine, scoring her a 15.066, the 27-year-old did just that.
With a total score of 59.131, Biles was just over a point ahead of Brazil's Andrade at 57.932, making it one of the closest calls Biles has ever endured at a major international event.
Lee, the Tokyo Olympics champion, earned bronze, despite spending much of the last 15 months dealing with multiple kidney diseases that left her return to the Games very much in doubt.
After Biles completed her floor set, she sprinted to hug Lee just off the podium and blew kisses to the cameras that have become fixtures wherever she goes under the Olympic rings.
In true GOAT ("greatest-of-all-time") fashion, Biles accepted her record-setting gold medal while wearing a silver goat necklace.
This marks Biles' sixth Olympic gold medal, the most ever won by an American gymnast, man or woman, breaking a 120-year-old record. It's also the third-most in women's gymnastics history. She is also the first woman to claim multiple Olympic all-around golds since Vera Caslavska of Czechoslovakia went back-to-back in 1964 and 1968.
At six gold medals, Biles is tied for fifth-most among American Olympians alongside swimmers Ryan Lochte and Amy Van Dyken.
Overall, Biles now has nine Olympic medals, making her the seventh woman with at least that many.
It isn't just hardware she's taking home: because the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee pays athletes $37,500 for gold medals, Biles has now earned $75,000 in bonus money from these Games.
She's not done yet: Biles is in three event finals later in the Games.
Many have questioned whether this will be Biles' last. She has been quiet about her future, saying her focus after leaving Paris will be on the post-Olympic tour she headlines. Biles is also married and has talked openly about the fear of missing out on life milestones because of her time in the gym.
Still, Cecile Landi — who has coached Biles with her husband Laurent since late 2017 — perhaps offered a little bit of insight after the American women won team gold Tuesday.
“She wanted to rewrite her story, the end,” Landi said, before adding a small asterisk.
“Well, that’s what she says now.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.