Simone Biles added yet another Olympic gold medal to her collection after coming out on top in the all-around event at the Paris Games on Thursday.
Her USA teammate Suni Lee also picked up a bronze medal after an impressive effort on the floor, with Brazil’s Rebecca Andrade taking silver.
Biles, who became the most decorated American gymnast of all time by capturing gold in Tuesday’s teams finals, had to overcome a rare error on the uneven bars to land the ninth medal of her Olympic career.
The 27-year-old recovered with outstanding performances on the beam and floor to see off competition from Andrade and enhance her legacy as USA’s all-time great.
She pulled off her latest feat with proud husband Jonathan Owens, who has been granted time off from his NFL training camp with the Chicago Bears to travel to Paris this summer, watching on from the stands.
In the second rotation of the event, Biles was left fuming after botching a transition on the uneven bars and scoring 13.733, which saw her surrender the lead to Andrade.
She was visibly irritated as she made her way off the podium, with replays appearing to show her mouthing to her coach: ‘F**k’.
However, the Olympic legend soon proved why she is one of the best to ever do it by scoring 14.566 on the beam and 15.066 on the floor to snatch the victory from Andrade.
That electrifying floor routine secured the gold with a total of 59.131 points, just 1.199 points ahead of her Brazilian rival.
Lee, meanwhile, had already sealed a place on the podium by raising the roof inside Bercy Arena with a floor score of 13.66, which briefly moved her to the top of the leaderboard.
The 21-year-old fought back from a disappointing start on the vault to claim bronze with a total of 56.465 points.
It marks another memorable day for USA’s gymnastics team after their success in the teams finals on Tuesday.
Biles followed up that victory by throwing shade at former Olympic teammate MyKayla Skinner, who recently questioned the current American squad’s ‘work ethic’ and dedication to their craft in a now-deleted video on YouTube.
The now nine-time medalist shared a photo of herself, Jordan Chiles, Hezly Rivera, Jade Carey and Lee holding a USA flag aloft with the caption: ‘lack of talent, lazy, olympic champions’.
And to show her support for Biles, Lee joined her fellow USA star in mocking Skinner by writing in the comments section: ‘put a finger down if simone biles just ended you’ along with a hand emoji.
Victory on Thursday secured Biles her second gold medal of the Paris Games and her second all-around Olympic title after also winning the event at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.
She withdrew from the event in Tokyo to prioritize her mental health after suffering from the ‘twisties’, a condition involving the temporary loss of spatial awareness that some gymnasts can experience when executing high-difficulty elements.
Her withdrawal caused concern among her vast fan base about whether she would ever set foot on the Olympic stage again.
Three years on, though, and Simone is back on top of the world after her latest gold triumph.
