Simone Biles and Sunisa Lee led Team USA to its first Olympic gold in artistic gymnastics since 2016 as the Americans easily beat their rivals at the 2024 Paris Games on Tuesday.
Team USA finished with an impressive winning score of 171.296. Italy came in second and Brazil in third.
The Americans celebrated by grabbing an American flag and jumping up and down posing for the fans after winning the gold in the team final. They rushed onto the floor and couldn’t contain their excitement as they moved to various points on the podium to give fans a chance to see them.
‘This is what you came for’ by Calvin Harris and Rihanna played over the loudspeaker.
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Simone Biles and Sunisa Lee of Team United States look on during Tuesday’s action in Paris
SImone Biles of USA competes during the Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Women’s Team Final
Simone Biles’ husband Jonathan Owens is seen celebrating in Paris on Tuesday
No Twisties this time: Simone Biles is seen spinning through the air on Tuesday in Paris
With Biles at her show-stopping best, the Americans’ total of 171.296 was well clear of Italy and Brazil and the exclamation point of a yearlong run in which Biles has cemented her legacy as the greatest ever in her sport, and among the best in the history of the Olympics.
The outcome — the Americans on top with the rest of the world looking up — was not in doubt from the moment Jordan Chiles began the night by drilling her double-twisting Yurchenko vault.
By the time Biles, the left calf that bothered her during qualifying heavily taped, stepped onto the floor for the final event — a floor exercise set to music by Taylor Swift and Beyonce — her fifth Olympic gold medal was well in hand.
The 27-year-old provided the exclamation point anyway, sealing the Americans’ third gold in its last four trips to the Games.
The Americans remain peerless (if not flawless, this is gymnastics after all) when at their best.
And over two hours in front of a crowd that included everyone from tennis great Serena Williams and actor Natalie Portman to Biles’ husband, Chicago Bears safety Jonathan Owens, Biles left little doubt about anything.
Her status as the sport’s greatest of all time. Her ability to move past the “twisties” that derailed her in Tokyo. Her spot in the pantheon of the U.S. Olympic movement.
Three years after removing herself from the same competition to protect herself — a decision that changed the conversation around mental health in sports — Biles pushed her medal total in major competition to a staggering 38 and counting.
It seems to have returned. She leaned into the crowd that roared at every flip, every leap and, yes, every twist. With her husband — on break from NFL training camp — waving an American flag while sitting next to her parents, Biles did what she has done so well for so long save for a couple of difficult days in Japan during a pandemic: she dominated.
Yet the 27-year-old hardly did it alone. Lee and Chiles were on the team that earned silver in Tokyo with Biles watching from the sideline. They navigated a series of setbacks both physical and personal to return to this moment and get the gold they so badly wanted.
And there they were on the biggest stage, Chiles doing all four rotations right next to her good friend Biles while doubling as the U.S.’s hype woman. Lee mixing her elegance with grit while dazzling on beam and uneven bars, her two best events.
Carey won the floor exercise in Tokyo, but did it with an asterisk of sorts. She’s earned her way in through a nominative process the sport’s governing body has since abandoned. She was with Team USA in Tokyo but not actually part of the official four-woman squad.
She vowed to write a different ending this time, and the Cheng vault she did on the first rotation scored a 14.800 — second only to Biles — to give the U.S. a commanding lead before Biles even saluted the judges.
The only real drama centered on who would finish next to the Americans on the medal stand.
