By: Elena Luo

Simone Biles has won her 2nd Olympic Individual All Around gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. She beat Brazilian Rebeca Andrade by a full point after performing an amazing recovery on the floor.

Simone Biles performed the world’s most difficult vault during the 2024 Olympics, called a Yurchenko Double Pike. This is a double backflip with straight knees. Simone’s energy forced her into stumbling backwards and she landed with a big step out. However, the difficulty of the trick cushioned her score from the resulting point deduction. Biles made a significant mistake on bars that led her to do an extra swing to regain her rhythm. This error placed her in 3rd place halfway through the competition. During the beam, which is Simone’s worst skill, she nailed each and every trick. Her 3 wolf spins were nearly perfect, and she stuck her dismount. The beam placed her in silver, right after Brazilian Rebeca Andrade.

During her floor routine, which is one of Simone’s best skills, she stuck 3 landings, and missed 2. The deductions were not big though, as she only took a few little steps. Beating Andrade’s score, she won her second Olympic All-around, making her the first women in 60 years to do so.

Growing up was not too easy for the superstar athlete. Simone Biles was born on March 14, 1997, in Columbus, Ohio. She grew up in Spring, Texas, after she and her sister were adopted by her grandparents. Biles became interested in gymnastics when she was 6 years old after a field trip to a gymnastics center.

She then trained there for 11 years. During the Tokyo 2024 Olympics, Simone had to drop out of a few events due to “twisties.” This mental health crisis caused her body to freeze up, making her unable to perform some of the skills she needed to perform.

Biles often tells everyone about her experience with the condition and the ways she works to overcome it, making her an inspiration to anyone who’s ever dealt with mental health struggles or stage fright.