Only Nadia Comaneci, who won three gold medals at the 1976 Olympics, even enters the conversation.
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“I knew Simone was going to win”, Raisman said. “Those really stand out from my 50 years of coaching”.
When the standings after the second rotation flashed and Biles had slipped behind Russia’s Aliya Mustafina, the first time she had trailed in a competition – any competition – in nearly three years, it would have been easy to wonder if a small crack was beginning to show. I’m sure most people don’t go into it thinking they can beat Usain Bolt either. She is the GOAT.
Biles, 19, is competing in her first Games, but has won a record 10 gold medals at world championships and is already being touted as the greatest female gymnast ever and a top star in Rio.
Aly Raisman has several Olympic medals to her name, but that didn’t stop the tears from flowing when she realized she was about to win another on Thursday.
The all-around requires talent on four pieces of equipment – the vault, the uneven bars, the balance beam and floor exercise mat.
“I think that the United States of America team is now very strong and practically we can not reach up to this level”, Mustafina said. That would be five gold medals.
Gymnasts at Biles’ gym in Spring gathered to cheer on their hometown girl. “I knew going into tonight I was going to get the silver medal because I was going to hit four events”.
Biles finished with a total of 62.198 points, followed by Raisman with 60.098 points. Coming in third is Russian team’s Aliya Mustafina who got an overall score of 58.665.
Simone even invented her own move for her floor routines, which is now named after her.
Also read: Simone Biles Parents: Biological Mom Still An Addict?
“I’m very excited and relieved, I’ve finally done it”. Just days after Team USA scored a team gold last August 9, Simone had taken another gold the all-around gymnastics competition, with teammate Aly not far behind.
Undefeated since she placed second behind 2012 Olympian Kyla Ross at a friendly meet in Germany three years ago, 19-year-old Biles has dominated domestic and global competition, becoming a 10-time world champion in just three years. Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson did it in 2008.
“She’s a force of nature”, Karolyi said.
After not crying at the team competition, Biles and Raisman ruined their makeup Thursday with tears of joy.
It’s nearly becoming hard to talk about Biles because there simply aren’t enough superlatives to describe her. I knew if I did what I had done in training, I would be good.
“Every emotion hit me at once so I was just kind of a train wreck”, Biles told reporters after the event. It was meant as a joke. Raisman said she remembers watching as a child when the USA achieved it the first time, at the 2008 Games in Beijing.
Inevitability confirmed, greatness verified, Biles turned human on us afterward.
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“She has this great ability to focus when necessary, and the rest of the time, she’s completely unfocused”, Boorman said.
