Simone Biles And Suni Lee Earned Gold And Bronze In The Gymnastics All-Around

The women’s gymnastics all-around final was one of the most anticipated events on the 2024 Paris Olympics schedule, as it marked the return of Simone Biles to the all-around competition after she withdrew in 2021 in Tokyo. The top competition for Biles was fellow American and 2021 all-around gold medalist Suni Lee, also on an incredible comeback story of her own, and Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade, who took home silver in Tokyo.

The favorites started on vault, where Biles delivered her signature vault, the Biles II, while Andrade stuck a big number herself to keep things interesting

On uneven bars, Biles had a rare slip-up, catching too close to the low bar and nearly touching the ground — making a pretty incredible save to keep her routine going, and fell behind Andrade. Meanwhile, Lee put together an impressive routine to move into contention for the bronze.

The third rotation was balance beam, where each of the top competitors made it through cleanly, but Biles was able to push back in front of Andrade going to floor, while Lee continued to close the gap on bronze.

On floor, all three women nailed their routines, with Lee needing a 13.5 to get bronze and earning a 13.666. Andrade had one minor misstep, going out of bounds with one foot, but otherwise had a terrific routine, earning a 14.033, but there was just nothing she could do if Biles got through her incredibly difficult routine cleanly, which she did to win gold in emphatic fashion with a 15.066.

While there are still individual event medals still to come, Biles further cemented her GOAT status with another team and all-around gold, getting back to the level that saw her dominate in Rio in 2016, and she’ll be the favorite for floor and beam gold medals. Andrade pushed Biles all the way to the floor routine, but the difficulty difference was just too big a gap to make up as she takes home back-to-back silvers. For Lee, who battled kidney issues and wasn’t sure she’d ever return to elite level gymnastics, her bronze medal performance was nothing short of spectacular, battling through a bit of a slow start on vault to chip away and earn a podium spot alongside Biles.