Simone Biles wins gold, Sunisa Lee wins bronze in Individual All-Around

Thursday was the Olympic Gymnastics women’s individual all-around. The Paris Olympics have been scheduling the biggest events/tickets for the evening sessions, which means all of the best gymnastics stuff has been happening in the afternoon here on the east coast. Which means I’ve been watching a lot of the gymnastics at the gym! I love it. I nearly screamed on my treadmill several times during the competition, especially when a handful of the ladies wiped out. It was awful. And yet… it turned out to be so competitive, as the top three ladies – Simone Biles, Rebeca Andrade and Sunisa Lee all had to nail their final event, their floor routines. First Suni, then Rebeca, then Simone. Each woman nailed their floor, so for a second, Suni was in the gold-medal position. Then Rebeca. Then Simone stepped out as the last one and she killed it – her degree of difficulty is INSANE and while she had a couple of jumpy landings, all of the technical stuff was amazing. That ended up being the descending order of the medals. Simone won gold, then Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade won silver, then Sunisa won Bronze.

Simone Biles and Suni Lee are taking home some new hardware! Biles, the most decorated U.S. gymnast in Olympic history, added another victory to her resumé with a gold medal in the women’s all-around final at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Thursday, Aug. 1. Her Team USA teammate Lee came in third with a bronze medal, just two days after the pair won gold in the team finals. The match-up was a highly anticipated one, as Lee, 21, was the reigning gold medalist in the event from Tokyo in 2021 (Biles, 27, won the gold in Rio in 2016).

Biles started off strong on the vault, scoring an impressive 15.766. Though she struggled on the uneven bars, falling to third place after she flubbed her transition from the upper bar to the lower, Biles returned to form with a solid performance on the balance beam, and excelled on the floor to lead her way to victory.

Rebeca Andrade of Brazil, Biles’ friend and close competitor, won the silver medal.

Stars like Kendall Jenner, Tony Hawk, Stephen Curry, Martha Stewart and Seth Rogen were all in attendance to cheer on the star gymnasts.

The victory comes two days after Biles, Lee and their teammates Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera dominated for gold in the team final. Biles’ gold medal came with the support of her family, as husband Jonathan Owens and parents Nellie and Ronald Biles were in the crowd at Bercy Arena to cheer her on.

[From People]

Incredible, and they’re not joking about all of the stars who came out for gymnastics. They weren’t only there for Simone either – Suni and Rebeca had a lot of support from the crowd, and the three ladies were very supportive of each other. Rebeca and Simone are apparently good friends. Anyway, gymnastics isn’t over! Individual events are coming up next. Do you want the breakdown? Saturday is vault, Sunday is uneven bars, Monday is balance beam and floor. Simone is competing in all except uneven bars (Suni is the only American doing that).

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

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27 Responses to “Simone Biles wins gold, Sunisa Lee wins bronze in Individual All-Around”

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  1. Neners says:

    The three gymnasts I was pulling for all made podium. All three have incredible stories. Simone’s goes without saying. Suni overcoming crippling illness that had her completely bedridden. She didn’t know if she’d ever live a normal life again, let alone make an Olympic run. And Rebecca growing up incredibly poor in Brazil — a country that, from what I understand, doesn’t fund their gymnasts at all. Also battling back from 3 ACL tears in 4 years to win a silver medal. The strength represented on that podium could toss a mountain across the sea.

  2. Carmen says:

    I’m wondering if this will be Simone’s last Olympics. She’s the greatest gymnast that ever competed, no question, but in 2028 she will be over 30.

    She’s already at the pinnacle of her sport. She has nowhere left to go but down. Nobody would blame her if she decided to retire after this Olympics. Personally, I’d like to see her retire while she’s at the very top. She has nothing left to prove. She’s the GOAT.

    • Fiona Guild says:

      If she goes to the next 2 or 3 world championships and performs well I think she might consider LA in 2028. I think another consideration is how well she performs this weekend. But youre right, she can only go down from here.

      • Bad Janet says:

        Don’t count Simone out. Back in 2016, people thought she couldn’t hang on for even one more Olympic cycle, and she has remained on top for two (I still count Tokyo because that was a freak incident and she absolutely would have won – she won worlds the years prior to Tokyo). Every year she gets better. She didn’t have a close competition because she is getting worse, it’s because her level of skill has increased the standard for the entire playing field. She is still doing skills that only a small percentage of the men can do, with better execution, precision, and competency. I would have expected her to peak already, and she just doesn’t. Somehow she comes back every year even better.

        Simone breaks barriers anyway, but age is just a number. Gymnasts are trending older than ever. One of the silver medal team members from Brazil is 33. Simone has always taken a year or two off after the Olympics and trains smart. She could absolutely do it again in LA if she wants to. The biggest change would be finding a new coach, because hers just took a job at the University of Georgia as head coach of their NCAA program. She is married now and has other priorities besides gymnastics, and is considering kids, so I hope she does whatever is right for her.

    • PunkPrincessPhD says:

      While Simone was waiting for her final floor score to come in, she said to one of the team entourage (coach? Physio?), “Rebeca can have the next one!” A bit of a joking tone, but also a sense that she did what she came to do and perhaps she’s happy to pass the torch.

  3. Laalaa says:

    You’re not mentioning Simone’s wearing a GOAT necklace!!

    • seraphina says:

      Or her comment on Twitter: I love my Black Job (with a black heart). HILARIOUS (reference to Trump saying that immigrants are taking “Black jobs”. You go Simone!
      Congrats to all the athletes and to the three on the podium.

      • lucy2 says:

        I missed that comment, LOL! Good for her. I did see the GOAT necklace though. I’m glad she embraces that and is proud of her accomplishments – she’s truly incredible and deserves all the glory.
        All 3 were amazing!

  4. sunny says:

    Congrats to the G.O.A.T!!! She is an incredible athlete and competitor and her legacy is peerless. I do think for all her winning and the skills she added to competition pushing the sport forward, her greatest legacy will be things like how she prioritized her mental health in Tokyo. Nothing but admiration for this woman.

  5. Pinkosaurus says:

    My husband was working from home with the Olympics on in the background and watched it all live. I, unfortunately, was in the office but got a constant stream of texts like “!!!!!! 🤸” and “no spoilers but this is f amazing” and “wow you’re gonna have to watch this” and “crazeeeeee”. All of the ladies were so so so great and I can’t wait to see what they do in the rest of the individual events.

  6. Paisley25 says:

    It was an amazing finish! So exciting to watch. Crying for each of the medalists, especially Suni.

    But don’t forget about the men! Saturday is floor and pommel horse. Sunday is rings and vault. Monday is parallel bars and high bar.

  7. Becks1 says:

    It was so much fun to watch! I watched it with my boys yesterday afternoon and then my husband and I watched the primetime broadcast. Even knowing what happened, it was still so fun as a rewatch. The cheering from the audience as they KNEW Simone was nailing her routine and would win gold was incredible.

    Those three women were obviously amazing to watch, but so was Alice D’amato from Italy and Kaylia Nemour for Algeria. The individual events are going to be really exciting.

  8. Midnight@theOasis says:

    It was a nail biter and so exciting. Simone is the absolute G.O.A.T. Suni battled back from serious illness and nailed her floor exercise to win the bronze, and Rebeca always gives Simone serious competition. She’s an awesome athlete. Also someone to watch is 17 year old Kaylia Nemour repping Algeria (though she’s actually French). Her uneven bars routine is beautiful to watch and I’m pretty certain she’ll be taking home the gold medal in that event. Kaylia is a solid all around gymnast and definitely is someone to watch.

  9. sevenblue says:

    It is hard to understand how human body is able to do the movements she is doing. She is jumping so high, making crazy flips. She is absolutely the best. I am also so happy she is in a happy place now. After the last games a lot of people talked sh*t about her. She came back and still did her thing.

  10. seraphina says:

    The excitement afterwards from Simone and Suni had me smiling from ear to ear. What broke my heart was thinking how people lashed out at Simone when she decided not to complete and now those same people are applauding her. She did what she thought was best for HER (despite money and accolades) and that is the strongest courage. She is a GOAT but for me, standing up for her health is also at the top of the list.

  11. Dazed and Confused says:

    Considering how competitive and challenging women’s gymnastics is, being able to even compete in more than one Olympics is impressive. Let alone, do it and medal. Multiple times!

    The women are winning across the board, too. In the US, they have earned 26 of the current 38 medals. It’s great to see increased coverage and interest in women’s sports.

  12. Blairski says:

    All the trolls who made negative comments about Simone Biles prioritizing her mental health at the Tokyo games are feeling guilty and publicly apologizing for their comments?

    No?

    Didn’t think so.

    • Carmen says:

      Now they are trolling Simone about her hair, for God’s sake, just like they trolled Gabby Douglas back in 2012. And just like with Gabby, the hate is coming from black women. “Why is her hair always so messy?” “Why doesn’t she get her edges laid?” As a black woman myself, I want to slap these bitches silly. They were so hard on Gabby she wanted to quit the sport.

      Gabby was very young and insecure back then at her first Olympics and didn’t know how to handle the criticism, but Simone is older and more confident, and this is her third rodeo. She has announced straight up that her hair is her business and everyone can butt the hell out. I applaud her putting these people in their place once and for all. It must be very annoying for an Olympic champion at the top of her sport to be constantly trolled by spiteful women who probably can’t up off the couch without huffing and puffing like a busted locomotive.

  13. Chantal1 says:

    I watched it and I was stressed! Whew! It was a great competition! I am proud of our ladies, Simone and Suni and I was also rooting for Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade, the only person imo who is close to Simone’s level of badassery. I can’t believe she’s had 3 ACL tears in 4 years and is this phenomenal!! I also love the friendship and respect they have for each other and you could hear Simone cheering Rebeca on. This is what good and HEALTHY rivalry looks like!

    I knew Rebeca would win at least a silver medal after she scored 15.100 on her vault and Simone would win gold if she nailed her routines. Even after scoring low (for her) on uneven bars, I never doubted that she’d win gold. Bronze was a toss up so I’m pleased that Suni won bronze, after battling 2 kidney diseases and returning to gymnastics so strongly.

    I was also really impressed with Kaylia Nemour from Algeria (she’s only 17!) and Alice D’amato from Italy, who’s first name I have now learned to pronounce correctly! But making it to the Olympics is no small feat so congrats to all! I’m looking forward to the individual events so thanks @Kaiser for posting the schedule.

  14. Fiona Guild says:

    I was watching live with my OH so when Simone got on that floor my wee heart starting beating wildly lol. When she finished her routine I knew immediately that she had won the gold and in unusually I started cheering and clapping madly which is out of character for either me that the mutt bolted up and looked at me like I was a lunatic but I was just so happy that Simone had won.

    I think if anyone is going to be the next big winner its Rebecca Andrade, she has the power Simone has and that steely determination.

  15. Sarah says:

    That was such a great event, and such a joy to watch. Our ladies, Simone and Suni just shined and Rebecca is such a talent that I couldn’t help but tweet that Brazil should probably start investing in their program. I know it got nerve racking after bars but I never doubted Simone had gold because I knew what beam and floor was for her but I was worried for Suni and man her face when she saw she won brought me to tears. But that moment Simone took when she knew she made history AGAIN. And even Rachel realizing she too made history and overcame so much. That podium was just the best. Loved everything about watching that yesterday morning and was so happy I took the day off of work.

    Between those lovely ladies and Katey Ladeky and the women’s swim team and our women’s fencing team winning gold and making history it was a great day for Women athletes and the USA!!!

  16. DianeL says:

    I was angry at NBCs coverage of the medals ceremony. They focused on Simone & Suni at the podium & completely cut Rebecca out of the frame. Her achievement deserved to be acknowledged too!

  17. Elon's Sink says:

    Yesterday was a national holiday here in Trinidad & Tobago (African Emancipation Day) so hubby and I watched the whole event live. The second we saw Simone land her opening set of flips flawlessly on her floor routine, hubby declared her the winner. Simone, Rebeca, and Suni were our top three so we’re beyond thrilled that it became a reality.

  18. Desdemona says:

    Congrats to them.
    I’m also very proud of the portuguese athlete, though she ended in 20th place. She’s 28 and has had 5 surgeries to her ankles, practises and studies at university and has physical therapy daily.

    I’m proud of her. 3 olympics