The Team USA gymnast has the chance to break multiple records depending on her performance in the finals.
At last Sunday’s qualification round, Simone Biles blew past the competition, topping several categories. The USA ranked first in the Team results, scoring 172.296 collectively.
Meanwhile, Biles also topped the All-Around rankings with a score of 59.566. Her teammates Suni Lee and Jordan Chiles followed close, in third and fourth place respectively.
Biles also placed first in Vault and Floor Exercise, while qualifying for Balance Beam in second place. The only apparatus she didn’t qualify for was Uneven Bars where she placed ninth, barely missing the cut.
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Already Making History
Biles is considered one of the greatest gymnasts of all time. She’s a six-time World all-around and floor exercise champion, four-time World balance beam champion, and two-time World vault champion.
In 2019, Biles broke the record for most World Championship medals in gymnastics. She now has a total of 30 World medals after the 2023 Championships.
US President Joe Biden awarded Biles the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2022, the highest civilian honor in the United States.
She is the youngest person to receive the medal. Aside from her athletic achievements, Biles was also recognized for her work as an advocate for victims of sexual abuse and for mental health.
Across two Olympics, Biles has collected seven medals: four gold, one silver, and two bronze. By joining the Paris Olympic gymnastics team, she’s now only the third American woman to make three Olympic teams.
After the results of the qualification round, Biles is also making history alongside her teammate, Lee. It will be the first time two Olympic all-around champions will compete against each other in an Olympic all-around final.
Going For Gold
Biles has several chances to break records at the Paris Olympics. With just one medal of any color, she could become the most decorated American Olympic gymnast in history. Her current tally of seven medals makes her tied with Shannon Miller.
If she wins two gold medals, she can become the record holder for the most Olympic gold medals for an American gymnast.
She could also jump to No. 2 on the list of Olympic medal leaders in women’s gymnastics. This could happen if she wins a medal in all the events she qualified for.
By claiming the all-around gold medal in Paris, Biles can become just the third woman to win it twice. She would be joining Larisa Latynina (1956 and 1960) and Vera Caslavska (1964 and 1968).
If she happens to win five gold medals in Paris, Biles can tie with Latynina for the all-time gold medal record. The Soviet gymnast won nine gold medals across three Olympics, which is the most for a woman in any sport.
Achieving this feat means Biles can also break the record for the most gold medals won by an American woman in any sport.
Swimmer Jenny Thompson, who has eight, currently holds the record. Another swimmer, Katie Ledecky, can also break this record in Paris as she currently already has seven gold medals.
Aside from medals, Biles has also submitted a new move on the Uneven Bars. If she performs it with no major fault at the Paris Olympics, the move will be named after her and she will become the only active gymnast to have an eponymous skill on all four events.
The women’s artistic gymnastics finals will take place from August 1 to 5, 2024.
Banner image via Instagram @simonebiles.
