Paris: Simone Biles led the United States to a dominant victory in the women’s gymnastics team final on Tuesday, laying the ghosts of Tokyo to rest as she claimed a fifth career Olympic gold medal.
Three years after Biles battled a disorientating mental block in Tokyo, pulling out of the team final in which the United States settled for silver, she and teammates Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Sunisa Lee led wire-to-wire in reclaiming gold ahead of Italy, with Brazil taking bronze.
The Americans already had gold in hand when Biles electrified the Bercy Arena crowd with a gravity-defying floor routine that featured two of her signature skills - a double back flip with a half twist and the “triple-double” of two back flips with three twists.
The United States combined for the highest score on all four apparatus for a total of 171.296 points and a whopping 5.802-point margin over Italy.
Italy won silver in 1928, but their best result in the modern era was fourth in Tokyo.
For the Brazilian squad led by Tokyo vault gold medallist Rebeca Andrade it was a first Olympic team medal.
The Americans grabbed their third team gold in four Games after victories in 2012 and 2016.
This one was especially sweet for a quartet of gymnasts who were all in Tokyo.
For Biles it marks a return to the Olympic summit after a two-year break as she focused on her mental health. Lee, the all-around champion in Tokyo, has since dealt with two career-threatening kidney ailments.
“Simone was glad it was over for today,” coach Cecile Landi said. “The whole team hasn’t been easy, it’s had its ups and downs so to make it happen was just a relief.
“After Tokyo I’m so happy we’re here on the other side.”
Biles now has eight Olympic medals, the most of any gymnast in history, and once again the stars were out for the sport’s greatest ever.
Serena Williams, Nicole Kidman and Bill Gates were on hand, as was Biles’s husband, NFL player Jonathan Owens in a T-shirt emblazoned with his wife’s name and picture.
Fans were on their feet as soon as the United States team were introduced, Biles beaming and blowing kisses before they made their way to the vault podium.
Biles opted not to unleash her demanding double Yurchenko “Biles II” vault.
But with her sore left calf wrapped she was spot-on with her marginally less difficult Cheng vault and the US emerged from the first rotation with a 1.434-point lead over China, whose excellent opening on uneven bars included an outstanding routine from Zhang Yihan.
Competition to coronation
It was the same story as the USA moved on to uneven bars, where Lee set the pace with a routine that garnered 14.566 points.
Chiles had nailed her bars routine and let out a yell before Biles powered through her weakest event, smiling from ear to ear after earning 14.400 points.
At the halfway point, the competition had become a virtual coronation as the United States pushed their lead to 3.102 points over European champions Italy.
China, bedevilled by the consistency problems that have hurt them in the past, had started a slide that would see them eventually finish sixth.
A fall for Chiles on balance beam was barely a blip. Lee got the US back on track with a superb beam routine and Biles weathered a couple of wobbly moments on the 10cm-wide apparatus to send the Americans into their final floor exercise with a 3.602-point cushion.
This was the second of 14 artistic gymnastics titles on the line in Paris, with Japan’s Daiki Hashimoto aiming to defend his men’s all-around title on Wednesday.
Biles will be in action again on Thursday in the women’s all-around final.
