Simone Biles of Team USA performs on the balance beam during the women’s artistic gymnastics team finals round at Bercy Arena at the Paris Olympics 2024, Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
PARIS — “The Redemption Tour” ended in a familiar spot for Simone Biles: atop the Olympic podium. Again.
The American gymnastics star and her singular brilliance powered a dominant Team USA women’s team in the Paris Olympics women’s artistic gymnastics team finals inside a raucous Bercy Arena on Tuesday night.
With Biles at her show-stopping best, the Americans’ total of 171.296 was well clear of Italy and Brazil and the exclamation point of a yearlong run in which Biles has cemented her legacy as the greatest ever in her sport, and among the best in the history of the Olympics.
The outcome — the Americans on top with the rest of the world looking up — was not in doubt from the moment Jordan Chiles began the night by drilling her double-twisting Yurchenko vault.
By the time Biles, the left calf that bothered her during qualifying heavily taped, stepped onto the floor for the final event — a floor exercise set to music by Taylor Swift and Beyonce — her fifth Olympic gold medal was well in hand.
The 27-year-old provided the exclamation point anyway, sealing the Americans’ third gold in its last four trips to the Games.
The Americans remain peerless (if not flawless, this is gymnastics after all) when at their best.
Simone Biles of Team USA celebrates after performing on the uneven bars during the women’s artistic gymnastics team finals round at Bercy Arena at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
And over two hours in front of a crowd that included everyone from tennis great Serena Williams and actor Natalie Portman to Biles’ husband, Chicago Bears safety Jonathan Owens, Biles left little doubt about anything.
Her status as the sport’s greatest of all time. Her ability to move past the “twisties” that derailed her in Tokyo. Her spot in the pantheon of the U.S. Olympic movement.
Three years after removing herself from the same competition to protect herself — a decision that changed the conversation around mental health in sports — Biles pushed her medal total in major competition to a staggering 38 and counting.
READ: Team USA has 2 goals at Paris Olympics: gold and see Simone Biles
Yet her return to the Games wasn’t so much about winning. It was about a joy she had lost somewhere along the way.
It seems to have returned. She leaned into the crowd that roared at every flip, every leap and, yes, every twist. With her husband — on break from NFL training camp — waving an American flag while sitting next to her parents, Biles did what she has done so well for so long save for a couple of difficult days in Japan during a pandemic: she dominated.
Yet the 27-year-old hardly did it alone. Lee and Chiles were on the team that earned silver in Tokyo with Biles watching from the sideline. They navigated a series of setbacks both physical and personal to return to this moment and get the gold they so badly wanted.
And there they were on the biggest stage, Chiles doing all four rotations right next to her good friend Biles while doubling as Team USA’s hype woman. Lee mixing her elegance with grit while dazzling on beam and uneven bars, her two best events.
Carey won the floor exercise in Tokyo, but did it with an asterisk of sorts. She’s earned her way in through a nominative process the sport’s governing body has since abandoned. She was with Team USA in Tokyo but not actually part of the official four-woman squad.
She vowed to write a different ending this time, and the Cheng vault she did on the first rotation scored a 14.800 — second only to Biles — to give Team USA a commanding lead before Biles even saluted the judges.
The only real drama centered on who would finish next to the Americans on the medal stand.