She tallied her second gold medal in Rio, following USA’s team gold on Tuesday, and said it was her final event on Thursday in the all-around that was her defining point.
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Her score of 15.966, the average of her two vaults, was too much for the competition.
She scored 15.900 on the vault called an “Amanar” after Simona Amanar of Romania, who preceded her as Olympic all-around champion in 2000.
Raisman, who finished behind Biles in the all-around to clinch individual silver, was part of the squad that won the team gold in London in 2012 and remembers the whirlwind of attention that followed. Second place went to Maria Paseka of Russian Federation at 15.253.
She said she hoped to be an inspiration to others who think they can’t do the impossible. Douglas went first, just missing a flawless 180 on a handstand and taking a jump on her landing to earn 15.066.
It also was Biles’ 17th world or Olympic medal, surpassing the USA record held by Shannon Miller (seven Olympic medals, nine world medals). “I want young boys and girls all over the world to feel fearless and to know there is a light at the end of the tunnel and to know there is a shiny gold medal”, she said.
Biles’ first vault was an Amanar.
“All I can say is all glory to God”.
Mare Dibaba of Ethiopia is one of the favorites after winning the gold at last year’s world championships in Beijing.
“She is so unique that she can beat everybody by two points”, added Comaneci. Kocian settled for silver and Germany’s Sophie Scheder took bronze. “It’s something that I wanted so badly”, she said.
Texan Simone Biles has won another gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
The Americans did receive a jolt of good news for the US men’s program, which finished fifth in the team competition and failed to pick up a medal in the all-around last week, when Alex Naddour picked up bronze on pommels behind Whitlock and rival and teammate Louis Smith.
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-Alexander Naddour won bronze for the United States in the pommel horse final Sunday at the Rio Games. This just makes Simone even more of a role model – not just for working hard and achieving your dreams in competition, but in how to respond to stupid, sexist remarks. “I got the gold with the team the other day and that was very special”.
