This much is clear: Simone Biles understands that life will never be the same.
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“Simone Biles continued her dominant display of excellence at the 2016 Rio Olympics with a gold medal in the vault finals”. And now, finally, an Olympic champion.
Three more golds, and her name will start coming up whenever Olympic greats are debated.
The teen’s win is the latest in string of victories that has made her this Olympics’ most unstoppable athlete. And she’s only 19 – we could see her again in Tokyo in 2020.
Fellow gymnast and silver-medallist Alexander spoke in praise of her fellow teammate, saying: “No-one goes into this thinking they can beat Simone”. At the halfway point, however, Biles sat a surprising second behind Russia’s Aliya Mustafina. Chusovitina said afterward she’s already planning to train all the way to the 2020 games in Tokyo.
American Simone Biles was about as close to perfection as one can get in her floor routine in the women’s gymnastics individual all-around competition.
Biles still has two more chances at gold on the balance beam (Monday) and floor exercise (Tuesday).
It gets a little trickier after that, if only because of unfortunate timing. She blew kisses to the crowd after her floor exercise, overcome by a comeback that at times seemed in doubt.
Biles will go down in history and her Olympic moment will be remembered for years to come.
Team USA added another medal in gymnastics finals Sunday as Alexander Naddour took home the bronze in the pommel horse finals. “I’m just Simone Biles, but it’s unbelievable to be recognized for all of this success for myself and for team U.S.”, she added. “Those are the culminations of our career”.
There was a little hop following her opening Amanar vault, a 2-1/2 twisting back somersault.
“I’m not the next Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps”, she told Sporting News after winning the gold in the women’s all-round, “I’m the first Simone Biles”. I was just a really hyperkid and I was always bouncing off the walls.
An ear-to-ear grin and a high-five with coach Aimee Boorman completed another golden day for the 19-year-old who is proving to be an unbeatable force in Rio. “I just feel like I did my job tonight”. She was also the first black gymnast to win the all-around title at worlds.
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Douglas said her teammates “did an unbelievable job”. “One vault was one vault and the next vault was the next vault and she was going to perform it the best she could”.
