PARIS: Simone Biles' sixth Olympic gold medal hung around her neck, along with a sparkling little goat – just a reminder to the gymnast hailed as the greatest of all time that she does indeed belong in the pantheon of sporting greats.
“I thought, OK, if everything goes well, we'll wear the goat chain,” Biles said after winning a thrilling all-around final to claim her second gold medal of the Paris Games.
“I know people are going to freak out about this, but at the end of the day, it's crazy that I'm called the greatest athlete of all because I still think I'm Simone Biles from Spring, Texas, who loves to do flips.”
Biles, who has pushed the limits of her sport en route to an astonishing haul of 39 World Championship and Olympic medals – 29 of them gold – has not been beaten in an all-around competition since 2013 – when she won her first all-around world title.
She won four gold medals at the 2016 Rio Olympics and seemed ready to burnish her Olympic legacy three years ago in Tokyo before withdrawing from most of her competitions, afflicted by the mental block that gymnasts call the “twisties.”
“It's been eight years,” she said of the gap between her Olympic all-around gold medals. “It feels incredible. I was a little naive about it. So now I appreciate my craft a little more.”
Biles, who said she was unsure immediately after the Tokyo Games whether she would return to the world stage, attributes the result to being able to return better than ever after a nearly two-year absence, to her coaches Cecile and Laurent Landi, her family and her own willingness to diligently manage her mental health issues.
She needed all her mental strength after a mistake on the uneven bars midway through the final left her in third place, but only 0.267 points behind the leader and eventual silver medalist Rebeca Andrade of Brazil.
“I was a little disappointed with my performance on the parallel bars,” Biles said. “I don't normally swing like that.”
“I'm not the best bar swinger. I'm not like Suni (Lee) or Kaylia (Nemour), but I can swing a few bars, you know?”
After a few minutes to re-center and focus, Biles delivered a solid routine on the balance beam to retake the lead and sealed the win with another dazzling floor routine at dizzying heights.
“I just couldn't believe I did it,” Biles said, adding that she was looking forward to three more finals – vault, balance beam and floor exercise.
“Now it’s time to have fun and the hard part is over,” she laughed.
And in case she needs it, she says, she has a toy goat in her room in the athletes' village, “just as a reminder, like, 'You can go out there, you can do it. You've done it before, so let's go.'”
