By: Ethan Shan

On August 1, Simone Biles won her second all-around Olympic gymnastics title by more than a full point after recovering from a mistake on the uneven bars. This was to fend off a strong challenge from Rebeca Andrade of Brazil, who won silver.

Simone Biles is 27 years old and has won 11 Olympic medals and 30 world championship medals. She is tied with Věra Čáslavská as the second-most decorated female Olympic gymnast, and has the most Olympic medals earned by a U.S. gymnast.

Biles performed the most difficult vault, the Yurchenko double pike, which no other woman has done before. This placed her 8/10ths of a point above Andrade, who did a vault called the Cheng.

When doing the uneven bars, Biles made a significant mistake by positioning herself incorrectly on a transition from the high bar to the low bar, which forced her to bend her legs to avoid hitting the mat, and then had to do an extra swing to regain her rhythm. This error dropped her down to 3rd place.

During the balance beam, all the medalists had some wobbles, but Biles kept hers to a minimum. Andrade kept her ground, staying within a couple tenths of a point, keeping the pressure on while heading into the final rotation.

With her distinctive floor routine involving several advanced moves, Biles secured her lead and became the first woman in half a century to win two Olympic all-around titles. Her routine included two moves named after her: a triple-twisting double back flip with her knees tucked to her chest, and a half-twisting double back flip with her body straight. Andrade stepped out of bounds once but held on to second place.

By the time the final score appeared, Biles already knew she had won. She was waiting with the American flag for the moment it became official. She also had a lot of fun during the process, and in an interview, she said, “if you’re having fun, that’s when the best memories are built.”