Simone Biles earns another golden Olympic moment

She called the Paris Olympics a redemption tour, a brave response to the woes she endured in Tokyo. Mission accomplished on Thursday, when she added all-around gold to her already incomparable resume.

The brilliant golden light of Simon Biles’ greatest gymnastics triumph emerged from the dark despair that had grounded her at the Tokyo Games.

Beset by the “twisties,” a silly-sounding name for a serious condition that robs athletes of spatial awareness and infuses the simplest moves with treacherous difficulty, Biles withdrew from nearly every event at an Olympics she had been expected to dominate. She was branded a quitter by those who were ignorant about the sport and its sobering risks, critics who chose to ignore the reality that there’s a bruise or pulled muscle for every sequin and sparkly crystal on gymnasts’ shiny leotards.

Detractors also refused to take into account the mental toll she had paid as a survivor of sexual abuse at the hands of the people who were supposed to guide and protect her. She was supposed to flip and vault and smile for the audience on command, never mind that she was hurting as much on the inside as on the outside.

To be completely clear: Biles was not a quitter. Not then. And certainly not on Thursday in Paris, when she became the first American gymnast to win two Olympic all-around gold medals and first woman from any country to do so in non-consecutive Olympic competitions.

Boosted by a her every-Thursday consultation with her therapist, Biles overcame mistakes on the uneven bars—her second and least-favorite event—to win a competition that was closer than most she has faced since she won all-around gold at Rio in 2016. Behind after two rotations, Biles rallied on the balance beam and floor exercise to compile 59.131 points, jumping ahead of Brazil’s Rebecca Andrade (57.932). Suni Lee, who won all-around gold in Tokyo but has since been slowed by debilitating kidney disease, finished an inspirational third with 56.465 points.

Maybe neither Biles nor Lee should have been there. But they weren’t quitters.

“I really didn’t think I would even get on the podium,” Lee said during a post-event news conference. “I just wanted to prove to myself that I could do it, because I didn’t think I could.”

She could. She did. So did Biles.

“Three years ago, I never thought I’d set foot on a gymnastics floor again just because of everything that had happened,” Biles said.

“For me, personally, tonight it means the world to me.”

Her Tokyo teammates won silver in the team event after she withdrew; Biles didn’t feel ready to compete again until the balance beam event final, where she won bronze.

After Tokyo, Biles took time away from competition while healing her body and her mind. She became a vocal advocate for athletes’ mental health and she bravely testified before the Senate in 2021 about the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of former U.S. national team doctor Larry Nassar, She married NFL safety Jonathan Owens in May of 2023. But she never completely moved on from gymnastics.

She occasionally dropped by the gym her family owned, World Champions Centre, and where she had trained, but there were no indications she would return to competition. Over dinner and margaritas at a Mexican restaurant early last year she told her longtime coach, Cecile Landi, that she was ready to give it another go.

From the moment she stepped out to the competition floor last August, it was as if she’d never left. From there, the path to Paris was generally smooth.

Her sixth Olympic gold medal and ninth medal overall was hard-earned, maybe making it the most satisfying. Andrade pushed her hard Thursday. But Biles was prepared strategically: she initially didn’t plan to perform her high-scoring Yurchenko double pike vault but changed course when she realized she’d need every tenth of a point awarded for difficulty to fend off the dynamic Andrade. “I have to bring out the big guns this time,” she said of her planning.

“I was stressing, I never had an athlete that close.”

Biles had prepared well mentally, too, keeping her regular appointment with her therapist just like every other week. She has been open about relying on therapy and applauding the benefits that has brought her, no doubt reducing whatever stigma remains among athletes who are reluctant to seek such help. The purpose of the conversation on Thursday, she said, was “making sure I’m mentally well. I think you see that out on the competition floor.”

Her joy and focus were obvious. She was there for herself, for her own reasons, for the sheer delight of continuing to lift the sport to another level. She looked happy, and after the events in Tokyo, that was a monumental win in itself.

Biles occupied the top step of a medal stand that featured three mature women, a welcome turn in a sport that for years thrust flexible, fearless children into a harsh spotlight. Biles is 27. Andrade is 25. Lee is 21. They—and their competitors—looked healthy, not skeletal. Their interactions with their coaches seemed cordial, not tinged with fear. That’s a positive change, too.

After her victory, Biles put around her neck a chain adorned with the sparkling charm of a goat, the acronym for Greatest of All Time. She is that. And she has three individual events left to add to her medal total: she will also compete in Paris for gold in vault, balance beam, and floor exercise.

"It is crazy that I am in the conversation of the greatest of all athletes," Biles said, “because I just think I’m still Simone Biles from Spring, Texas, that loves to flip."

It’s not crazy at all. From darkness, she found the light again.