Gymnastics: Simone Biles and Team USA reclaim women's Olympic team title
The redemption tour is complete.
Simone Biles led Team USA Tuesday evening (30 July) to a gold medal win during the women’s artistic gymnastics team final at the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
The U.S. totalled a 171.296, well clear of silver medallists Italy (165.494). Brazil won the bronze, a historic first, with a finals score of 164.497.
"It feels amazing. We love it, we’re excited," Biles told Olympics.com afterward. "We got the job done.”
It's the fourth U.S. win in the event, having taken the titles at Atlanta 1996, London 2012 and Rio 2016.
Italy's only other women's gymnastics team medal came in 1928, a silver in the inaugural staging of the event.
Three years ago, the U.S. finished a stunning second after entering Tokyo as the heavy favourites. Biles withdrew after botching her attempt at a two-and-a-half twisting vault to priortise her mental health as she dealt with what gymnasts call the 'twisties,' where the body and mind fall out of sync.
That finish has motived her - and fellow Tokyo returners Jordan Chiles, Suni Lee and Jade Carey. Newcomer Hezly Rivera is the fifth member of the squad.
"This is definitely our redemption tour," said Biles at the recent U.S. Olympic trials. "I feel like we all have more to give... I feel like we have a lot of weight on our shoulders to go out there and prove that we're better athletes, we're more mature, we're smarter, we're more consistent."
The 27-year-old anchored the opening rotation on the vault for her squad with a 14.900, giving the Americans a 44.100 to 42.666 lead of the People's Republic of China.
"This means everything to me. I'm so honored to be on this team and to have been able to contribute today," said Carey, the Tokyo 2020 floor champion, who told Olympics.com earlier this week she had been dealing with illness that affected her training and competition. Tuesday, her 14.800 vault score was just behind Biles. "This week hasn't exactly gone how I wanted it to, but I'm just grateful that I was able to come out tonight and get the job done and do exactly what this team needed from me."
After two rotations, the Americans had pushed their advantage to 3.102 points with Lee leading the way on the uneven bars with 14.566.
The U.S. took a 3.602 lead over Italy into the final rotation. Lee and Biles steadied the ship after Chiles missed her punch front mount seconds into the start of the balance beam.
On the floor exercise, Lee and Chiles set the table for Biles to close out the gold medal.
By the time she was soaring through her signature triple-twisting, double back, she just needed 8.865 to claim the fifth Olympic gold medal of her career. She delivered in spades, earning a 14.666.
She joins Gabby Douglas and Aly Raisman as the only two Americans to own two Olympic team gold medals.
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