Simone Biles said her gold medal Olympic victory in the all-around final on Thursday was her most stressful – because of the pressure from rival Rebeca Andrade.
After completing a far-from-perfect asymmetric bars routine, Biles looked nervous as Brazilian Andrade nailed her routines in her bright-yellow, glittering leotard, putting her just 0.166 point behind Biles ahead of the final apparatus.
The 27-year-old Biles still emerged victorious but after receiving her sixth career Olympic gold, told reporters that she never wanted to compete with Andrade again
‘I don’t want to compete with Rebeca no more . I’m tired,’ Biles jokingly told reporters.
‘She’s way too close. I’ve never had an athlete that close so it definitely put me on my toes and it brought up the best athlete in myself.
‘So I’m excited and proud to compete with her but I’m getting uncomfortable guys. I don’t like that feeling. I was stressed.’
U.S. teammate and bronze medalist Sunisa Lee agreed, saying: ‘I swear I’ve never seen you that stressed!’
Andrade, meanwhile, said she was proud to have run Biles so close.
She was filmed by television cameras with a beaming smile as Biles held her final pose to all but complete her gold medal victory, knocking Andrade down to silver.
‘I was very proud of her, it was amazing,’ Andrade said. ‘I was very, very happy.
‘Also because I had a very good competition, and I was proud of myself. So it was a smile of joy for her, a smile of joy for me, because I did my best.’
But despite what Biles said Thursday, the pair will face off again in Paris.
They will both compete in the vault, balance beam and floor finals on Aug. 3 and Aug. 5.
