At the very end of Tuesday’s team final at the Paris Games, even before Simone Biles had finished her dangerously difficult floor routine and the crowd roared in appreciation of the most decorated gymnast in history, the U.S. team knew that it had accomplished what it came here for.
And that was to reclaim the title of Olympic champion.
Led by Biles and the defending all-around champion, Sunisa Lee, the United States won the gold medal with a dominant performance of 171.296 points, finishing ahead of second-place Italy by almost 6 points. Brazil won the bronze.
Three years ago in Tokyo, the U.S. team won silver, behind the Russian team, after Biles withdrew from the event because of a mental block that made her disoriented in the air. It was the first time that the Americans didn’t finish in first place since 2008, when they won silver at the Beijing Games.
Since then, Biles and her Olympic teammates — Lee, Chiles, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera — resolved that these Paris Games would be their “redemption tour,” and they did more than just redeem themselves in the team final.
They barely gave the other teams a chance as they hit routine after routine, with only one major mistake — a fall on the balance beam by Chiles. But that mistake meant nothing in the end.
As the event unfolded, they pulled further and further ahead, ending with Biles on the floor exercise. For the Americans, it was the perfect conclusion to the perfect night.
At her third Olympics and what could be her final Olympics, Biles smiled nearly throughout her whole routine. When she stuck the landing of her last tumbling pass, the crowd erupted in cheers and started chanting, “U-S-A! U-S-A!”
Before walking off the floor, she blew a kiss to the fans and waved her index finger in the air indicating that the United States, once again, was No. 1 in the world in women’s gymnastics.
