The U.S. sensation could have accomplished something no gymnast has ever done in the Women’s Artistic Gymnastics All-Around final this Thursday 1 of August at Bercy Arena, where all six women in the top group (Biles, Andrade, Lee, D'Amato, Esposito, and Nemour) received massive screams. But there's no surprise who got the loudest reception: Simone Biles. And she did it. Biles became the first woman to win two Olympic All-Around Titles since Vera Caslavska in 1964 and 1968.

Simone Biles and the U.S. women were on fire in Tuesday’s team final. Now, the 27-year-old superstar has come back to action chasing the coveted women’s All-Around gold as her Olympic redemption tour continues three years post-Tokyo. And yes, the reigning World champion and the favourite to win became gold.  

After having to pull out of the individual all-around event in Tokyo due to struggles with the "twisties," Biles has reclaimed her gold-medal status, just days after leading Team USA to gold in the team event. She now owns 6 Olympic gold medals and has become the first gymnast to win two Olympic all-around championships non-consecutively. She is also the only American to win the Olympic all-around more than once.

Rebeca Andrade of Brazil, Biles' top competition, walked away with silver, repeating her finish from Tokyo in the all-around. Sunisa Lee, the Tokyo Olympics champion, earned bronze despite spending much of the last 15 months dealing with multiple kidney diseases that left her return to the Games very much in doubt.

Biles has been on a hot streak in the City of Light, where she has done eight routines in the competition so far with no major errors in the last weeks. Rio 2016 All-Around champion Biles was one of only nine female gymnasts to have earned eight or more Olympic medals, and today she is literally making history. 

Forty-eight hours after leading Brazil to its first-ever team medal, Andrade also stood on the brink of more history for her nation and was the only one who could come close to Biles’s level of difficulty, and she tried with a fantastic routine of 14.033 that wasn't enough with an invincible Biles.

As a recap of every woman in the contest, there were twenty-four gymnasts who contested the women’s All-Around final, with a group composed of the gymnasts with the highest combined scores on all four apparatus from Sunday’s qualification, with a maximum of two per country advancing. 

All four apparatus were in play at the same time. The top six from qualifying — Biles, Andrade, Lee, Kaylia Nemour (ALG) and Manila Esposito (ITA) — began on Vault, while those 7th to 12th started on Uneven Bars. The 13th to 18th placed gymnasts begin on Balance Beam, with 19th-24th starting on Floor Exercise.

We saw it coming

Simone Biles led Team USA Tuesday evening (30 July) to a gold medal win during the women’s artistic gymnastics team final at the Olympic Games Paris 2024.

The U.S. totalled 171.296, well clear of silver medallists Italy (165.494). Brazil won the bronze, a historic first, with a final score of 164.497. "It feels amazing. We love it, we’re excited," Biles told Olympics.com afterwards. "We got the job done.”

It's the fourth U.S. win in the event, having taken the titles at Atlanta 1996, London 2012 and Rio 2016. Italy's only other women's gymnastics team medal came in 1928, a silver in the inaugural staging of the event.

Three years ago, the U.S. finished a stunning second after entering Tokyo as the heavy favourites. Biles withdrew after botching her attempt at a two-and-a-half twisting vault to prioritise her mental health as she dealt with what gymnasts call the 'twisties,' where the body and mind fall out of sync.

That finish has motivated her - and fellow Tokyo returners Jordan Chiles, Suni Lee and Jade Carey. Newcomer Hezly Rivera is the fifth member of the squad. "This is definitely our redemption tour," said Biles at the recent U.S. Olympic trials. "I feel like we all have more to give... I feel like we have a lot of weight on our shoulders to go out there and prove that we're better athletes, we're more mature, we're smarter, we're more consistent."

The 27-year-old anchored the opening rotation on the vault for her squad with a 14.900, giving the Americans a 44.100 to 42.666 lead over the People's Republic of China. "This means everything to me. I'm so honoured to be on this team and to have been able to contribute today," said Carey, the Tokyo 2020 floor champion, who told Olympics.com earlier this week she had been dealing with an illness that affected her training and competition.

Tuesday, her 14.800 vault score was just behind Biles. "This week hasn't exactly gone how I wanted it to, but I'm just grateful that I was able to come out tonight and get the job done and do exactly what this team needed from me."

¿What happened in the men's category?

In the men's artistic gymnastics team final Japan returned to the first place podium, and today, in the individuals Over at the Bercy Arena, the men's all-around final began with the two favourites being Hashimoto Daiki and Zhang Boheng, with Oka Shinnosuke, Jake Jarman, Joe Fraser, and Xiao Ruoteng also in the top group starting on the floor.

Oka Shinnosuke (JPN)  became yesterday the new Olympic All-Around champion in Men’s Artistic Gymnastics, winning his second gold in three days and extending the Japanese winning streak in this event to a record four Olympic Games.

Seemingly immune to the pressures of an Olympic final, Oka was as steady as he was spectacular through six routines inside Bercy Arena on Wednesday. While the 20-year-old did not post the highest individual score on any apparatus, he proved the most consistent, which made the difference on what proved a challenging night for the pre-competition favourites.

Oka’s winning total was 86.832 points, 0.233 higher than top qualifier Zhang Boheng (CHN), who surged back to achieve silver after an early fall on Floor Exercise. Tokyo 2020 All-Around silver medallist Xiao Ruoteng (CHN) took bronze to complete the first all-Asian Olympic All-Around podium in Gymnastics since Japan swept the medals in 1972. 

Oka is the third Japanese man to win the Olympic title in the past 12 years, following 2012 and 2016 Olympic champion Uchimura Kohei (JPN) and Hashimoto Daiki (JPN), the victor in his home city three years ago. The Japanese are now two for two in Men’s Artistic Gymnastics at Paris 2024, having stunned the People’s Republic of China for team gold Monday night.