PARIS: Simone Biles’s sixth Olympic gold medal hung around her neck, along with a small, glittering goat: just a reminder to the gymnast hailed as the greatest of all time that she truly belongs in the pantheon of sporting greats.
“I thought, OK, if this works, we’ll wear the goat necklace,” Biles said after winning a tense all-around final to earn her second gold medal of the Paris Games.
“I know people are going to be excited about it, but ultimately it's crazy that I'm considered the greatest athlete, because I still think of myself as Simone Biles from Spring, Texas, who likes to do somersaults.”
Biles, who has pushed the limits of her sport to earn a staggering 39 world and Olympic medals (29 of them gold), has not been beaten in an all-around competition since 2013, when she won her first world all-around title.
She won four gold medals at the 2016 Rio Olympics and looked poised to revive her Olympic legacy in Tokyo three years ago, before withdrawing from most of her events because she was struck by the mental block gymnasts call “twisties.”
“It's been eight years,” she said of the gap between her Olympic all-around golds. “It's incredible. I was a little naive in the process. So I appreciate my art a little more.”
Biles, who said she wasn't sure if she'd be able to return to the world stage immediately after Tokyo, credits coaches Cecile and Laurent Landi, her family and her own willingness to work diligently on her mental health issues for making her comeback after a nearly two-year absence and looking better than ever.
She needed all her mental strength after a mistake on the uneven bars left her in third place halfway through the final, albeit just 0.267 points behind leader and eventual silver medalist Rebeca Andrade of Brazil.
“I was a little disappointed with my performance on the bars,” Biles said. “I don't usually do that swing.
“I'm not the best bar swinger. I'm not like Suni (Lee) or Kaylia (Nemour), but, like, I can swing a few bars, you know?”
After a few minutes to “recenter and refocus,” Biles executed a solid beam routine to reclaim the lead, sealing the win with another stunning floor routine.
“I couldn’t believe I did it,” Biles said, adding that she was looking forward to three more finals: vault, beam and floor.
“Now it's time to have fun and the hard part is over,” he laughed.
And in case he needs it, he said, he has a toy goat in his room at the athletes' village “just to have a reminder of, 'You can go out there, you can do this. You've done this before, so let's go.'”
