Simone Biles won the all-around gymnastics title for her second Olympic gold in Paris and sixth overall to cement her place back at the top of her sport with yet another sparkling slice of history.
The American, who won the title at Rio 2016 and had been favourite at Tokyo 2020 before she pulled out, became the oldest winner of her sport’s blue-riband event for 72 years in front of another celebrity-studded crowd.
Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade claimed silver at the Bercy Arena, with defending champion Sunisa Lee taking bronze.
The world’s most decorated gymnast, Biles put on a sparkly goat necklace while celebrating – as if there was any doubt about her status as the GOAT (greatest of all time).
At the age of 27, she is the first gymnast to win non-consecutive all-around Olympic titles – a demonstration of her longevity in a gruelling sport traditionally dominated by teenagers.
The past 12 Olympic all-around women’s champions were teenagers, and even the last non-teen, Ludmilla Tourischeva, had turned 20 only a few weeks before she won in 1972.
Taking a lead of 0.166 into the final rotation on floor, Biles was last to perform and delivered a flawless demonstration of some of her best skills to post a total of 59.131.
That meant she finished a comfortable 1.199 ahead of Andrade, who could only applaud and enjoy what her rival had done, as did everyone else in the packed arena.
BBC