Triumphant Simone Biles leads US to gymnastics team gold

Biles withdrew from Tokyo Olympics team final due to 'twisties'

30 July 2024 - 21:19 By Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber and Rory Carroll
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Simone Biles of Team US reacts after competing on the floor during the artistic gymnastics women's team final on day four of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Bercy Arena on Tuesday night.
Simone Biles of Team US reacts after competing on the floor during the artistic gymnastics women's team final on day four of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Bercy Arena on Tuesday night.
Image: Naomi Baker/Getty Images

Simone Biles clinched her fifth Olympic gold medal as she made a triumphant return to the women's gymnastics team final at the Paris Games on Tuesday, reinforcing her status as one of the greatest athletes just three years after withdrawing from the same event at the Tokyo Games.

Biles, the most decorated gymnast of all-time, earned the US their 11th Olympic medal in the women's team event with a solid performance on all four apparatus after starting off on the vault, from which she soared high into the air while executing the Cheng to earn 14.900 points.

With the crowd rallying behind Biles and her teammates in the absence of the French team that failed to qualify for the final, the US finished an impressive 5.802 points ahead of second-placed Italy.

While the Italians won their first women's Olympic team medal since the 1928 Olympics, an incredible, high-flying vault by Rebeca Andrade landed Brazil the bronze, their first ever medal in the discipline. 

Reuters

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