Artistic gymnastics’ “Golden Girl” Simone Biles lit up the Bercy Arena here last evening as she navigated her way to an awesome sixth Olympic title.
NBA star Stephen Curry, who is a member of the American basketball team at the Olympics along with fellow-legends Lebron James and Kevin Durant, was in the packed audience to watch Biles twist, pirouette, defy gravity and balance her way to the women’s All Around title.
Also watching her stupendous performance was “Miss Perfect Ten”, Nadia Comaneci who was in the press tribune.
It was not a start to end leadership position for the 27-year-old Biles in the four-apparatus final comprising vault, uneven bars, Balance beam and floor exercise, done in that order of rotation by all the competing gymnasts although she had won the all-round world championship title thrice in the run-up to the Rio Games.
Egged on by a capacity crowd who had made a beeline to the venue from the nearby metro stations, the American super star produced her trademark Biles II vault in flawless style to garner 15.766 points that put her well ahead of Rebeca Andrade of Brazil and teammate Sunisa Lee early in the competition.
It has been a topsy-turvy journey of stardom for the Ohio-born Biles who captivated the Rio audience to clinch the all-around gold, pulled out of the event five years later at Tokyo and three years further down the line has reclaimed the title at an age considered too old for gymnastics.
Her winsome smile once again lit up the arena as she overcame a slight slump in the uneven bars discipline, which saw a few others miss holding on to the bar when jumping from one bar to the other, to take the lead again in the balance beam apparatus.
Another winsome routine followed on the floor to help her get 15.066 and take her overall tally to 59.131, which put her 1.199 points ahead of silver medalist Rebeca who gave her a tough fight.
Sunisa picked up the bronze with 56.465 points to her credit and later the two American women draped their bodies with the American flag to loud cheers from the audience.
Biles had cinched the floor exercise and vault gold medals at Rio along with gold medals in the all-around and team categories too.
At the pandemic-hit Tokyo Games Biles withdrew from most of the competitions after taking part in the qualifications due to a sense of disorientation when performing the exercises.
Paris, thus, offered her redemption time and she grabbed it with both hands. She still has some more medals to win.
Biles, who returned to the sport after a two-year break last summer, told reporters she had weekly therapy sessions for the past three years and at other times during these Games.
“I’m just ecstatic with my performances tonight. And I still have three finals left,”
said an ecstatic Biles later.
“It’s been eight years (coming). It feels amazing,” she quipped about regaining the all-around crown.