By: Emila Zhang

Simone Biles added a new Olympic medal to her collection. The superstar also won her second all-around Olympic title on Thursday, July 30. Biles’ 11 Olympic medals and 30 World Championship medals make her the most decorated gymnast in history, and she is considered the greatest gymnast of all time.

At the Paris Olympics, Biles’s routine included the world’s most difficult vault, the Yurchenko double pike. It’s a round-off back handspring onto the table, then two backward flips in a pike position with her hands clasped to her knees, which no other woman in the history of gymnastics has done. The skill has a difficulty value of 6.4 out of 10.0, making it the hardest vault in the women’s competition.

Biles made a big mistake on the bars, positioning herself incorrectly. That mistake put her in third place at half-time of the competition. That gave Biles’ teammate, Sunisa Lee, a chance to shine. Even after that mistake, Biles will not give up. As soon as she recovered, she impressed the judges with her stunning performance on the balance beam. With her amazing floor routine, Biles became the first woman in 50 years to win two Olympic all-around titles. The floor routine included a move named after this 27-year-old.

Biles’ teammate, Lee, the all-around champion at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, performed a graceful routine that gave her the bronze, starting with a full-twisting double back flip with a solid landing.

“I’ve definitely been taking a lot of time for myself,” Lee said in March. “I think that’s one thing about this year, I’ve really learned to prioritize my well-being and just making sure that everything that I’m doing is adding to my life, not really taking away.”

“I am not the next Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps. I am the first Simone Biles.”
Biles and Lee were excited and pulled out the American Flag, they waited for the judges to announce the scores to make the celebration official.