The GOAT returns: Simone Biles and the US Women's Gymnastics Team shine at Paris 2024

Going into Paris 2024 Simone Biles was already the most decorated gymnast in history – male or female – with 37 medals across the world championships and Olympics. After a comprehensive two-year break to focus on her mental health following her withdrawal from all but the balance beam event in the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Olympics, Biles has been dominant, winning her sixth all-around title at the world championships in October 2023, just three months after returning to competition. She also led the US women’s team to a record seventh straight win in the team event. She certainly had nothing to prove to anyone, least of all herself.

Yet, she was referring to this as a “redemption tour” for her and her teammates at the Olympic trials, declaring they have more to give and more to prove. As the designated “Golden Girls” of the Olympic championships, with an average age of 22.467, they are the oldest US women’s team since 1952 and the oldest Olympic team, despite having the youngest member in the entire US Olympic squad – Hezly Rivera, who only turned 16 last month. Biles, at 27, thought she would be retired by now. Her teammates - and the world - are glad she is not.

Gymnastics is one of the oldest sports in the modern Olympic movement, having been a part of the inaugural modern Games in 1896 with women’s gymnastics introduced in 1928. It is a sport that incorporates a unique combination of strength, flexibility, and artistry, with gymnasts having to master complex routines that blend physical and mental discipline and precision in several different events. Gymnastics is continuously evolving and adapting from the perfect 10 scored by Romanian Nadia Comăneci at the 1976 Olympics to the increasingly groundbreaking skills introduced by Simone.

The US Women’s Gymnastics Team rose to dominance in the 1990s under the coaching influence of the Károlyis – Hungarian Romanian-American husband and wife pair Béla and Márta – whose controversial rigorous training regime emphasized both technical skill and mental toughness. However, it has also been heavily criticized for being verbally and psychologically abusive, leading some gymnasts to develop eating disorders and low self-esteem, and it was at the Károlyi Ranch where national team members attended frequent grueling training camps, that many instances of sexual abuse were perpetrated by Larry Nassar, the former team doctor.

With the revelation of widespread abuse by Nassar and the exposure that the success of the team and its individual athletes had come at such a heavy price, there was a widespread call for systemic reform within USA Gymnastics and the Olympic Community, particularly regarding athlete safety and mental health. Biles was one of hundreds of women and girls who spoke out against Nassar and shared her personal experiences, advocating for safer environments in sports and emphasizing the need for better protection against abuse.

More significantly, in September 2021, just weeks after withdrawing from most events at the Tokyo Olympics, she testified at a US Senate Hearing against Nassar where she drew a strong connection between the abuse she had suffered and her withdrawal, revealing that the trauma from Nassar's abuse had weighed heavily on her during the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where she had to compete without the support of her family. Despite her immense strength and perseverance, Biles felt that she should never have been left to endure Nassar's abuse alone.

When Simone Biles stepped away from Tokyo 2020, it was the vault that had given her a bad case of “the twisties,” a psychological phenomenon where you lose spatial awareness, and your brain and body suddenly disconnect, making you unable to perform certain skills. When she stepped up to her first qualifying event in Paris 2024, it was to the vault. She has two high-scoring elements named after her on vault – the Biles (two twists and front layout) and the Biles II (a Yurchenko double pike). In the Netflix documentary, Simone Biles Rising, released shortly before the Olympics, she talks emotionally about how every single execution on the vault still terrifies her and feels like an experiment in not dying.

Well, she certainly didn’t die. Biles put in a spectacular performance, despite having a calf injury and heavily taped ankle. She qualified in first place for the individual all-around with 59.566 points, qualified for all but the uneven bars individual final, and led the team to the top position with 172.296 points. The redemption tour was on track. On July 30th the US Women's Gymnastics Team delivered a dominant performance in the team final at the Paris 2024 Olympics, led by a thrilling performance from Simone, with the highest individual score of the tournament with 14.9 on vault. Fellow Olympians Jordan Chiles, Suni Lee, and Jade Carey shone alongside her to take Team USA to a score of 171.296, well clear of silver medalists Italy on 165.494. Brazil took the bronze with a score of 164.497.

Two days later Biles dazzled again in an epic showdown to claim the women’s all-around title – her second – outgunning two previous podium finishers in Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade and teammate Suni Lee – to become the first women in history to win non-consecutive all-around Olympic titles. She didn’t make it easy on herself, having to watch her lead from the vault slip to Andrade after she nearly took a tumble on the uneven bars. Her precision on the balance beam gave her the slimmest 0.166 margin heading into the final, and her favorite event: floor. She scored an unbeatable 15.066, performing her complex trademark elements without stepping out of bounds once. She finished on 59.131 to Andrade’s 57.932, with Suni Lee rounding up the medals with 56.465.

On August 3rd, Simone conquered her fears on the vault again to win her third gold in the 2024 Olympics. She scored 15.7 for her almost flawless trademark Biles II and 14.9 for her second vault, finishing only a third of a point ahead of Andrade on this occasion. August 5th, the last day of competition for artistic gymnastics, was a different story however. There seemed to be a weird atmosphere for both the men’s and women’s finals, with the crowd at times shushing the gymnasts from cheering on their competitors. This led to several slips and falls, including for both US entrants to the balance beam final, Biles, and Lee, finishing in 5th and 6th place respectively. On the floor, Rebeca Andrade finally pipped Biles for gold by the tiniest of margins (0.033) with US gymnast Jordan Chiles winning bronze. The day before, Suni Lee had picked up another bronze for Team USA on the uneven bars.

To appreciate the dominance of Simone and why she is the indisputable GOAT, you need to appreciate that gymnastics is scored right down to the decimal point. Yet, here, assembled with the best of the very best competitors, she won the all-around title by more than a full point. But what makes someone the greatest is not just dominating their sport, but changing their sport. Simone’s power, particularly on the floor, is unparalleled, enabling her to do things that have never been done. She stacks her floor routines with multiple tumbling passes of immense difficulty, barely seeming out of breath by the end. She has long been involved in scoring controversies where it seems judges either don’t know how to score her skills that push the limits of difficulty or else are reluctant to give her the score she deserves, in case it widens the gap between her and her competitors even further.

Simone didn’t need to come to Paris. She had nothing to prove to anyone, least of all herself. But by coming, she has not only forever changed gymnastics for the better, but the entire world of elite sports. She has opened the door for us to have honest, open conversations about mental health and how we raise our athletes – especially young girls. Where do we draw the line on issues of “toughness” and “perseverance?” She has gone a long way to destigmatizing mental health issues and shown us that you can prioritize your mental health, you can take time off to emotionally heal, and come back and be a champion. Thank you for your vulnerability, Simone. You have been so great for so long. We almost forgot you are human!