Biles won another gold medal in the women’s individual all-around gymnastics competition.
Advertisement
When Simone Biles stood on her bare feet ready to mount the balance beam on Thursday, it seemed like she would need to get on her tiptoes to peer over the 1.25 metre (4.1 feet) apparatus. Biles belongs to the world now.
She scored a combined 15.966 after two powerful vaults – 15.900 and 16.033 – to take gold ahead of world champion Maria Paseka of Russian Federation (15.253).
“I don’t think there will be another gymnast for a long time to come and do Simone’s difficulty on floor”, Comaneci said after studying replays of Biles’s routine. Biles jumped up on the mats to wave to the crowd – she had done it, a gold medal at the Olympics.
Well, OK, I guess that’s not quite accurate, considering she won the world championship three straight years in a row leading up to this Olympics, and we didn’t really care. She will compete on the floor exercise along with Aly Raisman on Tuesday.
Michael Phelps won his 22nd gold medal in the 200-meter individual medley, becoming the first swimmer to win the same event at four consecutive Olympic Games. Gabby Douglas, the 2012 Olympic all-around champion, finished seventh. Aliya Mustafina took the gold and Sophie Scheder of Germany won bronze in the event.
Then again, doing things gymnastics has never seen is what Biles does best. She also becomes the first American woman to win gold on the vault.
Diego Hypolito and Arthur Mariano of Brazil thrilled the home fans by taking home silver and bronze.
“I just wanted to stick a vault so badly here and it didn’t happen”, Biles said, “so of course I’m disappointed about that – but I can’t be disappointed about the gold”. That’s the most gymnastics golds by an American woman in one Olympics.
Mikulak said he “got pretty rattled” by the noise. She and Raisman joined Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson in 2008 as the only US gymnasts to win gold and silver in the same Olympic final.
Advertisement
National Team Coordinator, Martha Karolyi, cried when she learned their teamname “The Final Five” is a tribute to her; she’s retiring this year.
