Simone Biles has claim to many things in her brilliant career. She's invented more moves and had more elements named after her in gymnastics than any other person in history. Despite standing just 4-foot-8, Biles is objectively one of the greatest athletes in the history of the world. She's done things that would otherwise seem physically impossible, if not for the fact that she's managed to do them and reorient our perspective on what the human body is capable of achieving when hurling itself into the air.
She was an all-time American athlete and iconic Olympian years ago.
What was there left to chase?
The one thing Biles didn't have, at least not until Tuesday, was a redemption arc.
It was 1,099 days ago, on July 27, 2021, when Biles' career was turned upside down. While competing for Team USA at the Tokyo Olympics, Biles began to suffer from the twisties, a dangerous affliction brought on without warning that was impacting her spatial awareness -- all while trying to pull off some of those most complex and perilous gymnastic moves imaginable.
Biles being who she is, her Tokyo setback became arguably the biggest story of those Olympics. There was concern she might not ever return to competition. Was her career over? Biles could have walked away after 2021 and still been the most decorated gymnast in history -- and certainly the most dominant. I wrote it then: She had nothing to prove to anyone. Still, there were also a lot of bad-faith antagonists, people who've likely never attempted so much as a cartwheel, who claimed Biles must have been exaggerating her condition.
Regardless, when the best gymnast in history suddenly can't do what she does best, it's an international incident.
But, as is often the case, the greatest ones normally won't walk away after the lowest moment of their careers. Biles took time away from the mats, bars, beams and vaults and built back her psyche. She embraced therapy and came back to gymnastics on her time. She returned to big-time competition a year ago, at the world championships in Belgium, and when she won first place in individual all-around, plus balance beam and floor routine, it was the proper reinstatement to the top of the sport.
The Olympics, however, are different. They are the ultimate test. World championship performances garner but a fraction of the attention that the Olympics do, fair or not.
So, on Tuesday, Bercy Arena was the site of Biles' champion arc curling all the way back. The first event, vault, saw Biles take off -- with a nagging calf injury, no less -- and complete a slimmed-down move to a satisfactory end. This time, there would be no twisties. She landed, smiled, and then it was effectively over for every team going against the United States.
Team USA was on its way. It led after the vault in team all-around competition and would not relinquish that lead.
Just GOAT things. 🐐
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 30, 2024
Simone Biles kicks her day off with a solid vault. #ParisOlympics
📺 NBC and Peacock pic.twitter.com/jcxpj0GuRZ
"As soon as I landed vault, I was like, 'Oh yeah, we're definitely going to do this,'" Biles told the media after the gold medal-winning performance from the United States, which clinched its third all-around gold in the past four Olympics.
The quintet of Biles, Suni Lee, Jade Carey, Jordan Chiles and Hezly Rivera downright destroyed the competition. With an aggregate score of 171.296, the U.S. outpaced Italy (silver, -5.802) and Brazil (bronze, -6.799). It wasn't the ridiculous 8+ point victory from Rio de Janeiro in 2016, but it was still a phenomenal return for a unit that effectively only took silver in Tokyo because Biles had to bow out.
And now, an all-time American athlete is getting her moment of redemption. It's the kind of narrative bend that is bringing a bit more emotion and inspiration to these Games. Until 2021, it was near-impossible to picture Biles in any kind of sympathetic role. There are but a handful of great athletes in this country who can truthfully claim to have changed the very nature of their sport. Biles redefined (again and again and again and then some more) what was possible for women's gymnastics. Her diminutive figure cast a domineering shadow over all competitors.
At 27, she's practically ancient for her sport, but this feels right; that she decided to come back; that she's on this stage again; that's she's going to be the biggest star of these Games. Tuesday was a team win the whole way, to be sure, but Biles is at the heart of this dominance and is once again beaming at the center of American sports glory.
WOW. SIMONE BILES JUST DID THAT. 🔥 #ParisOlympics
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 30, 2024
📺 NBC and Peacock pic.twitter.com/l4pLcI1QGg
In helping Team USA capture all-around gold, Biles now has eight Olympic medals. She owns more Olympic hardware than any other gymnast in history, with five of those eight medals being gold.
Biles is, of course, likely to add to her stockpile later this week, when she competes in individual competition. And isn't that the best part of all of this? There's more greatness to come. This comeback story isn't written in one day or completed with one event. Biles is almost certainly going to get to double-digit medals, with another gold or two seeming ... dare I say ... inevitable? Consider this: Her 14.366 balance beam score was her worst showing on Tuesday, yet was the third-best performance on beam by any Olympian competing.
Biles is back, and so is Team USA. We learned just how much when Biles and her teammates revealed their self-appointed team name in the post-meet presser:
Aly Raisman asks Simone Biles and the team what their nickname is.
— Kendall Baker (@kendallbaker) July 30, 2024
"F.A.A.F.O."
F**k around and find out pic.twitter.com/RJjZ5OWcQg
On Tuesday, we all found out in a new kind of way.
Team USA is again the best in the world. Biles' redemption story has given her career a chapter she probably never desired, but at the same time, it's obvious she couldn't be more grateful for having gotten through the darkest period of her life. The best part: We're not done yet, and this story is probably going to go up a notch. Actually, since it's Biles we're talking about, maybe another three or four notches. With a handful of individual medals still waiting to be won later this week, Biles' peak moment in these Games would appear to be just hanging there, in the air, waiting for her to jump up and take it.