Simone Biles marked her return to the Olympic stage in style by helping the USA to strike gold in the women’s team gymnastics final. Biles was the star of the show as she claimed her first gold medal since 2016, three years after suffering the ‘twisties’ in Tokyo.
The 27-year-old kicked off her day with a solid vault, achieving a score of 14.900 to get the USA up and running. She looked relaxed as she took to the uneven bars with an acrobatic routine, which earned her another impressive score of 14.400.
Biles impressed on the beam with a score of 14.366 before finishing with a flourish on the floor, throwing in a triple twist and a double twisting double back to earn a superb score of 14.666.
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The USA led the way for almost the entire contest and were duly rewarded with the gold medal after taking silver in Tokyo three years ago. It marked a welcome return to the very top for Biles, who took a two-year hiatus after being struck down by the dreaded ‘twisties’.
Biles withdrew from the team final in Tokyo as a result of the disorientating mental block, which put her career at the highest level in jeopardy. Many wondered if she would ever compete again but she managed to prove her doubters wrong in style with a stunning return to form in Paris.
She will be in contention for more medals later in the Games after qualifying for the all-around, vault, floor and beam finals. Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Sunisa Lee also did brilliantly to help the USA finish with a significant buffer over Italy, who claimed the silver medal with Brazil taking bronze.
Team GB, meanwhile, came agonisingly close to claiming a medal but were ultimately forced to settle for fourth place. Rebecca Downie earned the highest score of the entire final with a whopping 14.933 on the uneven bars, with Georgia-Mae Fenton, Alice Kinsella and Ruby Evans also impressing.
Louis Smith, who won medals at three Olympics for Team GB during his career, was full of praise for his compatriots despite narrowly missing out on the bronze they won in Tokyo three years ago.
Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, he said: “Team GB really did not have the strongest qualifying. They had a shaky first few pieces of apparatus and it felt like the other countries really stepped up to perform.
“They scraped into the final in seventh place but they have absolutely turned up and done their job today. The girls really have been fantastic.”
