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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.

Simone Biles

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.

I’m sitting at my kitchen table in the middle of the day, laptop and a bowl of soup in front of me, but my eyes are locked on the TV. Simone Biles is tumbling across the screen, competing for Team USA in women’s gymnastics, and I’m ugly-crying with a dry cracker hanging out of my open mouth.

There’s a part of the Olympics that’s emotional for all of us—the unifying power of sports, the vicarious glory of national pride, imagining that we know what it must feel like for an athlete to carry the weight of their country on their shoulders and triumph. But for me, with this sport, there’s also knowing what it takes, on a specific and granular level, to live in the body of a gymnast.

Simone Biles got her start in gymnastics when she was 6 years old. Which is late, as she’s often said herself—a lot of girls who transcend to elite gymnastics start in their toddler years. I was 7, but I’d had a head start in ballet, already tuned to the need to control every part of my body, down to the bend of my fingers and toes. The appeal was immediate: mastering a new skill is an uncomplicated way to earn the approval of adults, and a team is a ready-made friend group to lean on through your most awkward years. Many gyms have a bell you can ring when you reach a new milestone—and everyone, even the teenagers on the boys team, will drop what they’re doing to cheer.

Over the years, I rose from a complete beginner to a level 5 competitor to, finally, a level 7—what was then the first of the “optional” levels, where gymnasts begin to differentiate and get their own routines, rather than the standardized “compulsory” level routines. Level 7 was as far as I got. I usually say I quit because of a physical limitation, but it was equally a mental one. I felt grizzled, worn down, and done. I was 13.

When I left gymnastics behind, I was still a kid. But my history as a gymnast is one of the most indelible things about me—about anyone who has undergone the physical and spiritual commitment of competitive gymnastics. Most of us learn early what it means to retire, to walk away from something that has been your everything and wonder how you’ll fill the hole. And watching this year’s Olympic team—especially Biles, whose setback at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo was world news—there’s a little part of me that’s cracking open.

Simone Biles

When you take on the role of a competitive gymnast, even years before you reach Olympic-caliber levels, you give up so much. You practice for hours after school every day and longer through the summer, replacing school time with gym time. You miss slumber parties and you stay home from sleepaway camp. You watch what you eat, saying no thank you to candy and pizza and chips. You wait for your period while the girls in your class pass tampons and whisper. You study your thighs and your biceps and your calves in the mirror and push down the sting of what kids call you in school. You do your homework at night with a bag of ice under your hamstring or draped over your ankle. You learn to tape your body parts together, to carry a family-size jar of ibuprofen in your backpack, to treat the skin that’s been ripped off your palms with heavy, stinking ointment while you sleep.

But you also grow up fast. You learn to take responsibility for your own time management, to create routine and discipline to ensure your own success, to set goals, break them down into steps, and feel the satisfaction of achieving them. Your body grows strong and capable. You break your school’s PE records for the 100-m sprint, bench press, and vertical leap. You beat any boy who dares to challenge you in arm wrestling. You master the art of extreme focus, tuning out the noise to apply your full attention to the task in front of you as if your life depends on it, because sometimes it sort of does. You amaze yourself with what you can do. You learn to fly.

And to give all that up—especially when you’ve accepted all the aches and pains and sacrifices that come with it—feels like leaving behind the best parts of yourself. Who are you when you can no longer strap your grips around your wrists and soar?

Which is why Biles’ return to the Olympics after pulling out from the competition three years ago is so important, why I can’t stop crying when I watch her compete. The road to gymnastics greatness is paved with girls who flamed out, girls who broke down, girls who decided it wasn’t worth it and threw in the towel. Some of us look back and marvel at how strong and fearless we were. Some of us kick ourselves for failing. What we all have in common is that we fought gymnastics, and gymnastics won.

Three years ago, it looked like even Biles, the GOAT, had been defeated by the sport. She did the right thing prioritizing her safety, and it’s easy to feel now that the choice was obvious, but at the time we feared she was done. It was devastating, physically painful to see her disorientation from the twisties, the mental block that caused her to lose track of her body in space, and it was gutting to watch as she withdrew from event after event. What a way that would have been to end a career.

But Biles persevered. She refused to let her story close on a low. She showed up to the Paris Olympics, ready as ever, and she brought her best. That’s winning—gold is just a bonus.

What to know

  • Simone Biles won the 2024 Olympic all-around title, making her the first two-time all-around champion since 1968.
  • This was the first time in Olympic history that two previous all-around gold medalists were on the same team and going head to head: Suni Lee (2020) and Simone Biles (2016).
  • Simone Biles, 27, became the oldest all-around champion in 72 years.

    Simone Biles says she started the morning of her historic win with therapy

    The Olympic gold medalist credited therapy for helping get her to gold. During a press conference following her win on Aug. 1, the gymnast told reporters that her day began with a session with her therapist.

    “Even this morning at 7 a.m., I saw my therapist, and there’s a time change,” she told reporters. “So she is so amazing for allowing me to do that these (past) couple of days … I think you see that on the competition floor.”

    Biles has spoken openly about turning to therapy as a tool in recent years. During a 2021 interview with TODAY’s Hoda Kotb, she reflected on how her struggles with mental health forced her to withdraw from multiple events at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. She explained how therapy helped her to confront those challenges.

    “I don’t think people understand the magnitude of what I go through,” she said at the time. “But for so many years to go through everything that I’ve gone through having a front, I’m proud of myself.”

    Simone glitters and is all gold in GOAT necklace featuring 546 diamonds

    The Olympic champ showed off her gold medal and a goat necklace by Parisian jeweler Janet Heller Fine Jewelry.

According to a post from the jewler, Biles commissioned the three-dimensional piece adorned with 546 diamonds.

See moment Simone Biles and Suni Lee take victory lap as crowd roars

Simone Biles and suni lee

 

In the moments just before their medals were announced, video showed the two gymnasts waiting with bated breath in a nearly silent stadium.

As their results appeared, the crowd applauded, and Lee shook the American flag. Biles was the first to take to the floor before being quickly joined by her teammate. The two celebrated as their lively audience clapped and shouted from the stadium.

Simone Biles is back on top, summits the top of the podium for medal ceremony

With a gold medal in her hand, Biles waved from the top of the podium during the gymnastics all-around medal ceremony.

The 27-year-old stood next Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade, who won silver, and her fellow U.S. gymnastics teammate Suni Lee, who took home a bronze medal.

The gymnast took home the individual all-around gold medal for the second time in her Olympic career. Her win is the first time an American gymnast has won two golds for the all-around final.

Suni Lee embraces Simone Biles after floor routine and anticipated win

The two members hugged after competing in the Artistic Gymnastics Women’s All-Around Final. The two gymnasts closed out their time at the games with a gold medal for Biles and a bronze for Lee.

NBC-repping Snoop Dogg was happily making the scene at the Paris Olympics before Simone Biles’ mother reminded the rapper of an awkward moment between them. (Watch the video below.)

Nellie Biles recalled Snoop giving her and her then-prodigy daughter the brushoff in New York City many years ago.

“Snoop, I don’t you if you know this but Simone and you have known each other for a long time, right, Nellie?” Hoda Kotb

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of “Today” said in an interview at the opening ceremony.

“How, Nellie?” Snoop asked.

“I remember ― I will never forget ― that we met you in Times Square in 2010 and you said ― cause we asked for a picture ― and you said ‘2 minutes, 1-2’ and you were gone,” Nellie said.

Snoop laughed off the recollection as Kotb pivoted to asking Nellie why her 4-time gold medalist daughter wasn’t attending the ceremony. (She was resting.)

We’d love to ask Simone Biles about her exchange with the “Gin and Juice” performer back in the day. But she’s a tad busy preparing for the women’s team final on Tuesday after she slayed the qualifiers despite an injury.

Simone Biles’ mom called out Snoop Dogg for once blowing her and her Team USA gymnast star daughter off during an awkward live interview at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony.

The rapper, who has landed himself a commentator role for NBC and Peacock’s primetime coverage of the games, helped ring in the event as a torch bearer before Friday’s controversial opening ceremony got underway.

Speaking about the moment live on air afterwards, he said he had been on his “best behavior” while carrying the flame on its last leg around the Stade de France sporting a pair of gold trainers.

As boats filled with athletes sailed down the river Seine, Snoop Dogg stood in the drizzle alongside The Today Show host Hoda Kotb to interview Biles family.

Biles, 27, who is the most decorated gymnast in Olympic history with four gold medals, was noticeably absent from Team USA’s boat to rest up ahead of Sunday’s women’s qualifier, mom Nellie Biles said.

The gymnast looks to scoop up her fifth gold medal this week.

However, it wasn’t the first time Snoop Dogg has met Biles’ mother with the rapper apparently making Nellie and Simone wait on him during a meeting in 2010.

“Snoop, I don’t know if you know this, but Simone and you have known each other for a long time. Right, Nellie?” Kotb revealed.

Simone Biles 

Initially perplexed, Snoop Dogg retorted: “How? How, Nellie?”

Nellie Biles said that the West Coast rapper had met the family in Times Square in New York City in 2010 – six years prior to Biles’ Olympic debut. She said that the family wanted to grab a photograph with Snoop Dogg.

“And you said – ’cause we asked for a picture – two minutes. One, two, and you were gone,” she revealed.

The group laughed off the incident.

On Sunday, Snoop Dogg was seen sporting a white tracksuit shrouded in the star-spangled banner and a T-shirt of the gymnast’s face as he watched Biles and the rest of Team USA’s gymnastics team compete at Bercy Arena.

Other stars including Tom Cruise and Lady Gaga also sat in the crowd as the team emerged in leotards adorned with thousands of crystals, each outfit costing $3,000.

Despite a minor calf tweak and walking with a limp, the routine earned Biles a 14.600 and an impressive total of 59.566, guaranteeing her a spot in the finals next week in all four individual events.

She came first in her division on both the vault and floor, second on the beam and eighth on uneven bars.

The centrepiece was the vault where Biles set a score of 15.300 – almost a full point ahead of American teammate Jade Carey.

It marked a major return for Biles after a 732-day hiatus from major competitions after she pulled out of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 to prioritize her mental health.

“Day one, now moving on to team finals, all-around finals, a couple event finals hopefully,” US coach Cecile Landi said.

The US team is looking to take gold on Tuesday before athletes start the individual event finals on Thursday.

Biles is vying to become the oldest American women to win an Olympic gold in gymnastics.

Now that Simone Biles has qualified for gymnastics finals at the 2024 Paris Olympics, anticipation is building to watch the great one win some gold in this year’s Summer Games.

However, that excitement will have to wait just one more day.

Biles isn’t scheduled to compete on Monday as the women’s gymnastics portion of the Olympics has the day off. Monday will be the men’s team final as the U.S. attempts to win gold for the first time since 1984. That event will take place at 11:30 a.m. ET.

The four-time Olympic gold medalist will be back in action on Tuesday for the women’s team final, where she’ll be joined by Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and 16-year-old Hezly Rivera.

Simone Biles 2024 Olympic schedule

  • Women’s team final: Tuesday, July 30 at 2:15 p.m. ET.
  • Women’s all-around final: Thursday, Aug. 1 at 12:15 p.m. ET
  • Women’s vault final: Saturday, Aug. 3 at 10:20 a.m. ET.
  • Women’s uneven bars final: Sunday, Aug. 4 at 9:40 a.m. ET.
  • Women’s balance beam final: Monday, Aug. 5 at 6:36 a.m. ET.
  • Women’s floor exercise final: Monday, Aug. 5 at 8:20 a.m. ET.

2024 Olympic medals: Who is leading the medal count? Follow along as we track the medals for every sport.

On July 17, Netflix released the two-part docuseries Simone Biles Rising. The docuseries chronicles iconic gymnast Simone Biles’ path to the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, which were pushed back to 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Simone Biles Rising also follows Biles as she tries to find a balance between her personal and professional life after she bowed out of the Tokyo Olympics to concentrate on her mental health—and her triumphant path back to the 2024 Paris Games.

Biles enters the 2024 Paris Olympics already a champion, having won seven medals—four of them gold—at the Rio Olympic Games in 2016.

Both episodes of Simone Biles Rising are streaming exclusively on Netflix.

The Netflix original Simone Biles Rising is among the new documentary series you can stream as the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics get underway.

The opening ceremony for the 2024 Summer Olympics is set for Friday at 1:30 p.m. EDT. Pop music icons Celine Dion and Lady Gaga are rumored to perform a duet at the event, which will be broadcast on NBC and stream on Peacock—which is NBC Universal’s streaming service.

Dion’s participation in the event will mark the next big step in her comeback in the music world after revealing that she was suffering from the rare muscular disorder Stiff Person Syndrome in May of 2023.

Here’s How To Watch The 2024 Paris Olympic Opening Ceremony

Reports have surfaced that Dion and Lady Gaga have rehearsed iconic singer Edith Piaf’s classic song “La Vie en Rose.”

The opening ceremony on Friday is shaping up to be a historical event as it marks the first floating ceremony in the history of the games. The ceremony will feature 1o,000 athletes in boats—among other luminaries—during the Parade of Nations on the Seine River.

Several documentary series or features are available on streaming to help tell the compelling backstories of some of the athletes participating in the 2024 games, as well as other greats from Olympics past. Here’s a look at some of them.

When Simone Biles landed a spectacular vault in Paris on Thursday, she made a huge statement in what is supposed to be a low-pressure return to the Olympic stage.

The American, the most decorated gymnast in history with 37 world and Olympic medals, is back after pulling out of several events at the Tokyo Games three years ago with the ‘twisties’ – a disorientating mental block.

Many wondered if they would ever see her at a Games again, but now the 27-year-old is giving herself the chance to add to her seven Olympic medals.

She has returned with a new skill – the Yurchenko double pike vault, which was last year named the Biles II after she became the first woman to land it in competition, and which is one of five gymnastic elements named after her.

It was this move that she executed perfectly at the Bercy Arena in podium training – the only chance gymnasts get to practise on the equipment in the venue before they compete there.

Nailed, stuck, not a hint of a shuffle.

“She looked good,” coach Cecile Landi said when asked how Biles had appeared mentally and physically in the training session.

For those who witnessed that vault, though, that assessment may have sounded like an understatement. But everything about the USA team’s build-up to the Games has been about keeping the pressure off Biles.

Simone Biles

She and her team-mates were ushered quickly out of the arena after training, with the team deciding to put the coaches forward to speak to the waiting pack of reporters instead.

Biles has also been told she does not have to compete in all events if she does not want to.

“I think it’s going to be day by day, we’re going to decide after qualification,” Landi said. “I think for her just knowing that she has the option to say ‘Hey, I maybe want to take one event off out of the whole two weeks,’ is mentally helping.”

Biles’ return to the Olympics may be low pressure, but it will not be low key.

It was easy to see where the American was in the arena during this training session – just look for the photographers. And it was impossible to miss the quality of a skill only she can perform.

When the arena fills up on Sunday for the women’s qualification round, there will be one gymnast everyone is watching.

Simone Biles is gearing up for the Paris Olympics, intensifying her training regimen as she aims for more gymnastics glory. With a renewed focus and determination, Biles is set to showcase her extraordinary talent and solidify her status as one of the greatest athletes of all time.

The 27-year-old took to TikTok, posting a video of the team’s last practice at their local gym, before leaving for the Olympic Games on Friday night. It opens with the gymnast gearing up and excitedly saying, “This is our final practice at our training facilities before we go.”

Throughout the montage, viewers are treated to glimpses of Biles performing on the uneven bars. The video also features segments of Biles, Jordan Chiles, Joscelyn Roberson, and Tiana Sumanasekera as they practice their floor routines.

In one clip, Chiles comments, “We’re all surviving, I think,” highlighting the team’s camaraderie and determination. The video concludes with Biles executing several impressive flips on the balance beam.

Biles will lead the American team at the Games alongside Chiles, Jade Carey, Sunny Lee, and Hezly Rivera. Leanne Wong will join them as a travelling replacement, while Sumanasekera and Kaliya Lincoln will be non-travelling replacements.

Simone Biles

In her illustrious Olympic career, Biles has amassed an impressive array of medals. At the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, she won four golds and one bronze. Although the 2020 Tokyo Games did not see her replicate the same level of success, she still secured a bronze and a silver medal.

Additionally, Biles boasts a remarkable record in World Championships with 23 golds, four silvers, and three bronzes, as well as two golds in the Pacific Rim Championships. Biles took two years off from competition following a mental health issue she experienced in Tokyo, something she hopes will not recur in Paris 2024.

After working extensively on herself over the past three years and with the support of her husband, Jonathan Owens, she aims to achieve all the goals she has set, “There are many different things on the table right now, and it’s not just about me and gymnastics. For instance, I share the sports space with my husband,” Biles says.

She has grown significantly, both professionally and personally, thanks to the professional help she has received and is now able to manage her fears: “Firstly, I remember my goals to avoid burning out, and we keep track of ourselves throughout the year. Secondly, there are so many things happening in my life outside the gym that sometimes it feels like my job is secondary,” says the gymnast.

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