PARIS – Simone Biles holds off Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade in all-around, becomes oldest Olympic women’s gymnastics champ since 1952
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE: Original Associated Press story continues below.
Simone Biles, fresh off leading the U.S. women’s gymnastics team back to the gold medal in team competition, is back on the mat today for the Paris Olympics all-around finals. The 27-year-old is attempting to become the oldest women’s all-around champion since 1952, taking on a field that includes Brazilian star Rebeca Andrade and defending Olympic champion Sunisa Lee.
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Biles uses signature skill to vault ahead
Biles brought out the Yurchenko double pike vault after passing on doing one during the team final to protect her tender left calf.
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Biles is the only woman to ever complete the vault in competition and it carries her name in the sport’s Code of Points. The move requires her to do a roundoff back handspring onto the vaulting table, followed by two back flips while clasping her legs.
She took a sizable step back on her dismount but otherwise kept it under control.
Biles scores 15.766 on vault
Biles is off and running in her quest for another Olympic all-around title. Her score on the vault: 15.766.
It’s a significant lead over Andrade’s 15.100 already, with three events left for both.
Andrade saves new skill for another day, still shines on vault
There was speculation Andrade could attempt a Yurchenko triple twist during the final.
The Brazilian gymnast submitted the vault to be named after her in the sport’s Code of Points. She has performed it at training but did not try it the all-around. She instead opted for a difficult Cheng that earned her 15.100 points. It was nearly flawless.
She will have another chance to perform the Yurchenko triple twist in the vault final next week. If she succeeds, the vault would be the first skill named after Andrade.
Sunisa Lee’s score on vault: 13.933
The defending Olympic all-around champion is behind her Tokyo pace at the start.
Sunisa Lee was the first athlete on the vault, and the 21-year-old American who won the title at the Tokyo Games three years ago took a bit of a hop on the landing. Her score was 13.933.
Her score on the vault in the Tokyo all-around: 14.600.
Biles and Lee aren’t the only Americans out here
Biles and Lee aren’t the only American women in the all-around final.
Luisa Blanco, a Texas native and recent Alabama graduate, made the final while competing for Colombia. Blanco’s parents are Colombian and she obtained dual citizenship over the last year.
She began competing for Colombia last fall and her performance at the Pan American Games helped her earn a spot under the rings.
It’s go-time for the all-around
The 24 athletes have been introduced at the women’s all-around competition, with Simone Biles coming out last and to the biggest ovation, of course.
Biles and U.S. teammate Sunisa Lee — the reigning all-around Olympic champion — will open on vault for their first rotation.
We’re ready to go at the women’s all-around finals
Simone Biles, Sunisa Lee and the rest of the all-around finalists are on the floor.
How does Olympics gymnastics scoring work?
There are two components to Olympics gymnastics scoring: The difficulty or D-score is what a gymnast does. The execution or E-score is how well they do it.
Technically, there’s no limit on how high the D-score can go, but most elite routines top out between 5.4 and 6.0. Some exceptional ones can go higher — for example, Biles’ floor routine at the team finals had a 6.8 D-score.
The E-table is based on a 10-point system, though no perfect 10 for execution has ever been awarded anywhere since the new paradigm was introduced (Simone Biles has come close a couple of times on vault). Anything over eight is good.
The two scores are added together. A total of 13.0 or better is solid. Anything in the 14s is excellent and puts you in medal contention. A 15 or better (typically reserved for vault and typically reserved for Biles) and you’re pretty much assured of a gold medal.
During the all-around finals, each gymnast is judged on vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor, and their scores are added together. Highest total wins.
Rivals and friends
Biles and Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade are rivals — and friends.
“It’s an honor to be able to compete alongside her,” Andrade said after leading Brazil to the bronze medal in the team’s competition won by the U.S. team in Paris. “She’s a reference and a role model for the whole world of gymnastics. And also for other athletes.”
Andrade and Biles made their Olympic debut together in Rio eight years ago.
“To be able to watch how she competes and see how happy she is to compete, the hard work she does, it’s fantastic to witness,” the 25-year-old Andrade said. “I don’t know what will happen when she’s not around any more. I don’t even know if I’m still around (by that time), either.”
Andrade won the gold medal in the vault at the Tokyo Olympics and was runner-up in the all-around to Sunisa Lee.
Simone Biles’ new gymnastics skill: What to watch for
Simone Biles has had five skills named after her in the gymnastics’ Code of Points after completing them in competition.
There’s a chance Biles could add a sixth element at the Olympics, where she has submitted a new skill on uneven bars.
She did not attempt the skill during qualifying or the team finals but could try it during the all-around competition.
If this was ‘Jeopardy!,’ then Kyla Ross would be a great answer
If this was “Jeopardy!,” here’s your answer: Kyla Ross.
The question: “Who was the last gymnast to beat Simone Biles in a major all-around competition?”
It was March 30, 2013, at something called the Chemnitz Friendly in Germany, when Ross won the all-around gold and Biles finished second.
Biles has competed in 33 different all-around competitions since — Olympics, Olympic trials, world championships, U.S. championships and so on — and won the gold at every one of them. That obviously doesn’t include the Tokyo Games, where she withdrew and did not compete in the all-around.
Biles will try to run her streak to 34 straight all-around golds at the Paris Games later Thursday night.
Why isn’t Jordan Chiles in the all-around finals?
Jordan Chiles posted the fourth best all-around score during qualifying Sunday, but she won’t compete for individual all-around gold.
The reason? Each country can only have two athletes in the all-around finals. Simone Biles was first and Sunisa Lee was third in qualifying, taking both of the spots open to U.S. gymnasts.
Chiles does have one more chance at a medal this weekend after qualifying for the finals on floor. She also had a good enough score to qualify on vault, but she didn’t make that final because she finished behind countrymates Biles and Jade Carey.
Biles, Andrade and Lee will start on vault
Simone Biles, Rebeca Andrade and Sunisa Lee — the top three finishers in all-around qualifying — will compete in the same rotation tonight, starting on vault. They’ll move to uneven bars, balance beam and then floor.
If the scores are tight heading into floor, Biles has the advantage of getting to see how the others fare before starting her final event. Biles’ floor routine will be the last event of the night.
It’s been 11 years since someone actually beat Biles in all-around
Biles has an 11-year unbeaten streak in the all-around in meets she has started and finished into the finals. It’s a run that has included an Olympic gold in Rio de Janeiro and six world titles and nine U.S. Championships.
If she finishes atop the podium at 27 years, four months and 18 days, she will be the oldest all-around champion since then 30-year-old Maria Gorokhovskaya of the Soviet Union during the first women’s all-around competition in 1952.
Some more perspective on how long Biles has been on top: Olympic teammate Hezly Rivera had just turned 5 the year Biles won her first national and world titles.
Biles or Lee could make Olympic history not done since 1968
The women’s final marks the first time since the Olympics began offering an individual gold medal in the all-around in 1952 that there have been multiple Olympic champions in the same final.
Biles triumphed in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, with Lee earning the gold in Tokyo three years ago.
If either of them win, they will be the first woman to claim multiple Olympic all-around golds since Vera Caslavska of Czechoslovakia went back-to-back in 1964 and 1968.
Larisa Latynina of the Soviet Union also won consecutive golds in 1952 and 1956.
Spurred by Simone Biles, adult gymnastics is on the rise
Interest in adult gymnastics across the United States is rising in lockstep with the careers of Olympians like Simone Biles.
There are now hundreds of meets a year that offer opportunities for adults to compete. Many of the adults are former gymnasts who stepped away from the sport because they felt opportunities had dried up.
Those opportunities are returning, allowing the athletes to reconnect with the sport on their terms.
Will this be Simone Biles’ last Olympics?
The 27-year-old has kept quiet about her future plans, saying her focus after leaving Paris will be on the post-Olympic tour she headlines. Biles is also married and has talked openly about the fear of missing out on life milestones because of her time in the gym.
Still, Cecile Landi — who has coached Biles with her husband Laurent since late 2017 — perhaps offered a little bit of insight after the American women won team gold Tuesday.
“She wanted to rewrite her story, the end,” Landi said.
Landi then added a small asterisk.
“Well, that’s what she says now.”
Simone vs Suni is an unprecedented Olympic showdown
Here is an interesting stat about the might of the U.S women’s team:
Simone Biles, the 2016 Olympic champion, will be competing against teammate Sunisa Lee in the all-around final. Lee is the Tokyo gold medalist. It’s the first time in history that two Olympic all-around champions will compete in an all-around final at the Games.
A-list celebrities are showing up to see Simone Biles
Celebrity spotting was again part of the event at a raucous Bercy Arena when Simone Biles powered a dominant U.S. women’s gymnastics team to the Olympic title on Tuesday night.
A-listers Nicole Kidman, Natalie Portman and Serena Williams gathered at the Olympic venue to watch the most decorated athlete in the history of gymnastics during the team final. Spike Lee, Michael Phelps and former ace gymnast Nadia Comaneci were also in the crowd.
Lady Gaga, Tom Cruise and Jessica Chastain attended Biles’ return to the Olympics when she competed in qualifying Sunday.
For Italy and Brazil, losing to Simone Biles’ US team still felt like a victory
Watching the celebrations after the Paris Olympics women’s gymnastics team final Tuesday, it was tough to tell who had won.
The Simone Biles -led U.S. team? Brazil star Rebeca Andrade and her teammates? Or the Italian team led by 17-year-old Manila Esposito?
The Americans’ total of 171.296 made Biles the most decorated Olympic gymnast in U.S. history with an eighth medal.
But it was a historic day for Italy and Brazil, too.
Japan’s Shinnosuke Oka wins men’s Olympic all-around title
Shinnosuke Oka won the men’s all-around gymnastics title at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday, upsetting the two main favorites to extend Japan’s dominance in a final that came down to the wire.
The former junior world champion whose career was put on hold by a serious knee injury two years ago edged Zhang Boheng and Xiao Ruoteng, both of China, to claim his second gold medal in three days at his first Olympics, by just 0.233 points.
“I did not make any mistake at these Olympic Games,” Oka said. “I was a challenger, but I wanted to win.”
Simone Biles takes a swing at MyKayla Skinner over SafeSport comments
MyKayla Skinner isn’t on the U.S. gymnastics team in Paris, but the vault silver medalist in Tokyo has still been part of the discussion.
Skinner drew criticism last month for saying the U.S. Center for SafeSport is making it difficult for coaches to do their job. In a since-deleted YouTube video, she says that coaches “can’t get on athletes” out of fear of being reported to SafeSport. SafeSport is an independent entity that handles allegations of abuse from various governing bodies across the U.S. Olympic movement.
Skinner later walked back her comments in an Instagram post, saying she did not intend to disrespect Simone Biles and the five-woman U.S. gymnastics team.
Biles seems to be disrespected anyway. After winning the team gold Tuesday, Biles posted celebratory photos on Instagram with the caption “lack of talent, lazy, olympic champions” — an apparent jab at Skinner’s criticisms.
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