Simone Biles Powers USA to Olympic Gold in Team Gymnastics

The royalty of every Summer Olympics — the faces of the Games — are crowned in women’s gymnastics. All eyes around the world watch in amazement at the wondrous athletic talents on display.

On Tuesday, the United States reigned supreme at the Paris Olympics.

With Serena Williams, Nadia Comenci, Michael Phelps, Spike Lee, Natalie Portman and Nicole Kidman all in attendance at Bercy Arena, the U.S. won its fourth gold medal in the women’s team competition with a dominant performance. It finished with a winning score of 171.296, well ahead of Italy (165.494) and Brazil (164.497).

The team gold was USA’s first since the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games. It finished second behind Russia at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The U.S. foursome of Simone Biles, Jordan Chiles, Suni Lee and Jade Carey calmly built an insurmountable lead over its four rotations. The Americans opened on the vault with Chiles, Biles and specialist Carey scoring a collective 44.100. They remained in first place after Chiles, Biles and Lee all shined on the uneven bars and Chiles, Lee and Biles were solid on balance beam.

Their fourth and final rotation on floor exercise was just a formality. Biles was less than perfect to close out the meet, stepping out of bounds during her exercise, but it didn’t matter. The U.S. was going to be Olympic champions anyway.

For Biles, half of her Paris Games redemption story is complete. She had her Tokyo Olympics marred by a bad case of the “Twisties,” a mental block that prevented her from competing. Her struggles prompted a worldwide conversation about the importance of mental health awareness.

The GOAT of gymnastics is officially back. And she can complete her comeback story in Thursday’s all-around competition.