RIO DE JANERIO — If there’s a quibble to make with Simone Biles, it’s that she competes with such effervescence that she does a disservice to herself in making gymnastics look so easy.
You won’t catch her grimacing. She’ll never double-over with exhaustion, tongue dangling, between routines.
In Biles’s hands, gymnastics is such a celebration, such a party, that no theatrics are needed other than the few flecks of glitter she lines her eyes with, so they match her sparkly leotard.
Thursday at Rio Olympic Arena, Biles invited a raucous crowd at Rio Olympic Park and untold millions viewing from home, to her Olympic coming-out party, which concluded with a floor exercise that bristled with high-flying acrobatics and radiated total abandon.
After losing the lead midway through the completion on her weakest even, the uneven bars, Biles stormed back to claim Olympic all-around gold, her sport’s most coveted prize, by more than two points over her American teammate, Aly Raisman, who took silver.
Russia’s Aliya Mustafina took bronze.
Olympic all-around gold was the only individual honor Biles hadn’t claimed, too young to compete in the 2012 Olympics.
It was Biles’s second gold medal of the Rio Games, coming 48 hours after leading the five-woman U.S. squad to team gold by a whopping, eight-point margin over second-place Russia.
She made history for the United States, as well, which became the first country to claim four consecutive golds in the women’s all-around.
Biles extended the streak that begin with Carly Patterson in 2004 and was continued by Nastia Liukin in 2008 and Gabby Douglas in 2012.
With two golds draped around her neck so far, Biles has a chance for three more in the coming week, when she competes in the event finals of vault, beam and floor exercise.
Biles opened on vault, executing the Amanar (two-and-half twists), a feat only a handful of women have dared attempt in competition.
Biles established herself as the leader on the first rotation, with Raisman behind.
They were followed by Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade, who was just .300 behind Raisman.
From there, the Americans proceeded to the uneven bars. Of the four apparatus in women’s gymnastics, it’s the least suited to Biles’s compact physique, rewarding the long, elegant lines of women four or five inches taller. Still, Biles was clean and precise with her skills, minimizing the deductions judge might have taken for short-comings in execution and landing her full twisting dismount like an Olympic diver entering a pool.
The score (14.966) was respectable, but it wasn’t enough to fend off Mustafina, the world champion of the event. The Russian outscored Biles by 0.700 points on the apparatus to wrest the lead.
Raisman’s outing on uneven bars was more disappointing. Her handstands were shy of perpendicular – tentative, as if she were trying to control emotion, and the 14.166 she received knocked her from the top three.
Balance beam followed. Few competitors attempt routines on the four-inch wide beam that are as technically difficult as Biles’s. Though she has practiced it to the point that her muscles need no direction, the beam has a heartless way of exposing jitters. And Biles was human.
She wobbled early. And though she stayed on, never missing an acrobatic flip or connection, she wasn’t the bold, free-flowing performer she typically is on beam.
Still, there’s a huge gap between her beam skills and the rest of the gymnastics world. Her score, 15.433, was the highest awarded on beam to that point but shy of typical mark. Almost immediately U.S. officials protested judges’ estimation of its difficulty (6.5, in qualifying), but their “inquiry,” as such protests are known, was rejected.
Raisman’s beam was also off her norm, and the U.S. inquired about her start-value, too. It was rejected. But with 14.866, Raisman reclaimed third.
For both Americans, the chance to finish on floor exercise was welcome.
No gymnast attempts a floor routine as difficult as Biles’s. And Raisman is the 2012 Olympic champion on floor. It was an invitation to distance themselves from the rest.
Mustafina, the biggest medal threat of Americans Biles preceded them, and her sub-14.000 score created an opening for a 1-2 finish for the U.S teammates.
Raisman, competing second to last, tossed off whatever anxiety she’d had earlier in the competition once her music started. Her tumbling was powerful; her dance connections womanly, fitting for an experienced gymnast of 22. And when she finished, no doubt that the score would assure her of a silver medal at worst, the U.S. team captain broke into sobs.
Biles was the night’s closer. And it was her moment to shine. The tumbling mat turned into her canvas, and she painted furiously and brilliantly, flipping to impossible heights as she crisscrossed the mat. The Brazilian flavor of the routine thrilled the crowd and spurred Biles to even great heights.
There was no need to wait for a score.
No one could touch Biles on this afternoon. No one could soar quite so high.
