Andrade Golden; Biles Wins 11th Olympic Medal

05 Aug Andrade Golden; Biles Wins 11th Olympic Medal

Posted at 17:55h in News & Features, Paris 2024 by Christy Sandmaier 0 Comments

Inside Gymnastics is on the scene in Paris for the XXXIII Olympiad bringing you all of the action from the Games! Make sure you’re following our social media pages (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram & Threads) for all the latest and greatest in what promises to be the most epic and most-watched Olympic Games ever.

The Schedule

Gymnastics at the 2024 Paris Olympics will air on NBC, USA Network and E!, and stream on Peacock and NBC Olympics platforms starting on Saturday, July 27.

Watch Live Here

Watch Replays and Extras Here

Look for previews, stars and storylines on InsideGym.com throughout the Games!

454032878_18446331478007751_7845449807439255938_n

Hang It in the Louvre!

In the bow seen around the world, Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade took the top step on the podium Monday capturing gold on floor on the final day of gymnastics in Bercy Arena at the 2024 Paris Olympics. As she glowed from ear to ear and saluted the crowd, Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles, who took silver and bronze, turned to Andrade and bowed, celebrating the champion and yet another historic moment. It was emblematic of the sportsmanship and camaraderie we’ve seen over two weeks of gymnastics and prompted social media accounts around the world to suggest the now iconic moment be commemorated forever in one of the worlds’ most iconic places.

For Andrade, the moment was what she’d been working for.

“I am very happy and proud about what I did,” she said. “We came here every day to compete and perform (well). Gymnastics is not an easy sport, it requires a lot from our body and mind. I was confident I was able to manage all of the pressure and I worked with my coach in order to achieve what we’ve done.”

Biles, the 2024 All-Around Champion and most decorated U.S. Olympic gymnast of all time, landed out of bounds twice during her routine (double double and double layout), which knocked her score down by 0.6 (14.133). Notably, her triple double and Biles I, also performed within the routine, were quite possibly the best she’d ever performed the skills. And while she would have loved to win another gold, she was quick to praise Andrade for her incredible performance and historic achievement.

“She’s so amazing. She’s queen,” Biles said. “And first it was an all-Black podium, so that was super exciting for us. But then Jordan was like, ‘Should we bow to her?’ And I was like, ‘Absolutely.’ So we’re like, ‘Are we gonna do it now?’ And then, that’s why we did it.”

Chiles, who won bronze in a last minute (and very dramatic) twist after her score was challenged (she received credit for her tour jete following the inquiry after initially not receiving it, moving her from fifth to third), said she wanted to make sure that Andrade got the praise she felt the champion deserved and that she’s simply an amazing person.

“You know, she’s an icon, a legend herself,” Chiles said. “So I feel like being recognized is what everybody should do when it comes to somebody who’s put in the work, put in the dedication. She’s given, you know, not only has she given Simone her flowers, but a lot of us on, in the United States our flowers as well, so giving it back is what makes it so beautiful.”

And for Biles, the silver lining.

Three years after Tokyo where she was forced to withdraw from the team, All-Around, vault and floor final (she won bronze on beam on the final day) and watch her rivals from the stands while simultaneously being subjected to endless personal attacks, Biles’s redemption tour is complete. She’ll leave Paris having re-established herself (again) as the best gymnast in the world and the greatest of all time after one of the most legendary Olympic comebacks we may ever witness in sports.

She’s revolutionized gymnastics. She’s created a generation not afraid to use their own voice. And she’s done it by establishing a standard and a list of accolades that may never be surpassed. All on her own terms.

“I’ve accomplished way more than my wildest dreams, not just at this Olympics, but in the sport,” she said. “So I can’t be mad at my performances. A couple years ago, I didn’t think I’d be back here at an Olympic Games. So competing and then walking away with four medals, I’m not mad about it. I’m pretty proud of myself.”

453901183_18446257441007751_1144616062511504619_n

Earlier in the day, Italy’s Alice D’Amato created a headline of her own capturing the beam gold in what could be described only as an Olympic version of Survivor.

With Biles and Andrade yet to go, D’Amato stepped up to the beam knowing the falls and mistakes before her (including Sunisa Lee and China’s Zhou Yaqin) had left the door wide open for a medal. And, as she has all week, put up a calm, beautiful routine, and waited. With a fall from Biles and missed connections from Andrade, the gold was hers. A stunning upset to say the least.

“Beating Simone and Sunisa was only possible because both of them fell off the beam,” D’Amato said, adding that she had benefited from this “stroke of luck”. But this is how a beam final works. The one who can best withstand the pressure, use it to her advantage and perform the best exercises will win. Today, this person was me.”

For us, watching a dream come true in real time for D’Amato, created an enduring Olympic memory and one that we’ll long remember. On this day, she rose to the pressure and it was golden.

454285660_18446234611007751_3044093765824441102_n

From July 30, 2024

Bercy Is Waiting for Biles

By Christy Sandmaier

There was an air surrounding Simone Biles at the 2023 World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium as she entered the building for her first international event since the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Now, just days from now, Bercy Arena, site of the gymnastics events in Paris, is waiting. And the World is watching and wondering what storyline Simone Biles will write.

In Antwerp, her status in the sport as the Greatest of All Time was not only secured, but rose to a level we may never again see in gymnastics. Unparalleled in her performance, and back on the world stage once again—this time on her own terms—Biles left the 2023 World Championships as a 30-time medalist, upping her own dominant game to 37 total in World and Olympic competition. It was unprecedented and historic, with the energy and emotion of the entire Championship captured as The Queen once again took her place atop the podium.

Biles first returned to the competition floor at the 2023 Core Hydration Classic and looked as if she never left, sending her Yurchenko double pike into the stratosphere, winning by over five points, and all-but silencing anyone who ever questioned her ability to be the absolute best in the world once again. Three weeks later at the Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championships in San Jose, Biles looked absolutely undeniable, capturing a record eighth All-Around crown—her smile and her joy back.

Because of that and the legacy that preceded her, her All-Around quest in Antwerp was framed by the highest of global expectations and elevated to a level of excitement that only a competitor like Biles brings to the floor. In a moment seen around the world that led the capacity crowd on their feet, many in tears, Biles captured her sixth World All-Around title. It was a competition for the ages—the bar raised by Biles herself and her competitors as well.

As she hit her final pose on floor, the score was nothing more than a mere formality. There was simply an aura around Biles from the get-go, almost as if she was performing in a dream. Except this was real, complete with a standing ovation, a few tears on the podium (though she later said she had something in her eye) and once again, gold. Yes, this was Biles on her own terms. Trusting herself in a dominating and record breaking performance that may well never be matched. Heading into Paris, Biles is the frontrunner for All-Around glory at the Games, and all signs indicate she’ll once again be poised to capture the starring role. Her legacy in the sport is secure and second to none. She is the absolute best in the world and the absolute best athlete this sport has ever seen in women’s competition.

At Worlds, her competition was about one more title, one more moment on her terms—standing centerfloor and taking her place in history once again while relishing the experience itself. “The gold medal means everything. It means strength, courage, the fight, tenacity,” she said following the All-Around. “It has been such a long journey to get back here and feel comfortable and confident to compete again. I won my first worlds here 10 years ago and now today again, so that’s really special.”

Her 2024 debut in Hartford at the Core Hydration Classic and her two-day competition in Fort Worth at the Xfinity U.S. Championships left no doubt she’s ready for the Games. And in Minneapolis at one of the most emotional and competitive Olympic Trials we’ve ever seen, she made her third Olympic team by miles, punctuated by posting the highest score in two days of All-Around competition to earn an automatic berth on the team with a combined 117.225. Biles, 27, will be the oldest female American gymnast to compete at the Olympics in 72 years and will carry an aura of greatness, anticipation and excitement into what promises to be an absolutely historic Olympic Games.

Referring to the team’s silver medal in Tokyo and the collective challenges each 2020 team member faced in their own journey there and in the lead up to the Paris Games, Biles told the media after the competition: “This is definitely our redemption tour. I feel like we all have more to give, and our Tokyo performances weren’t the best. We weren’t under the best circumstances either. But, I feel like we have a lot of weight on our shoulders to go out there and prove that we’re better athletes, we’re more mature, we’re smarter, we’re more consistent.”

Tokyo taught her (and reminded all of us) so much about the importance of putting an athlete’s mental health in focus and first, and by now, we all remember her journey. Heading into the Tokyo Olympic Games, Biles was dubbed by virtually all in the sport as the G.O.A.T., – Greatest of All Time. From winning streaks to medal count to name-bearing skills, she was called ‘super-human’ in the media. Under the Olympic spotlight following her five-medal (four gold, one bronze) performance in Rio, Biles once again became the face of the Games – expected to become the most accomplished gymnast of all time. She would indeed leave an everlasting mark from those Games. It just wouldn’t be for medals. Rather, for the importance of mental health.

Opening up on Instagram after an unusually shaky prelims round, Biles said she was feeling the pressure. Then she seemed to lose her place in the air in rotation one of Team Finals on vault, and ultimately pulled out of the competition all together. “I didn’t quit… my mind and body are simply not in sync,” Biles would explain to the world. Gymnastics fans were largely in her corner, supporting her and thanking her for her bravery. But the comment sections on posts from outlets like Sports Illustrated to People showed the nasty side of armchair quarterbacks who criticized her withdrawal. It seemed people forgot that Biles, while easily one of the most extraordinary athletes of all time, is also first and foremost, a human being.

And it would be Biles who would ultimately have the last word to her critics, both on the competition floor and through the message she delivered on publicly recognizing the importance of mental and physical health. In what was perhaps the most anticipated and most-watched moment of the Games, on the final day of gymnastics competition in Tokyo, Biles rose to the occasion in every way, winning bronze on beam, and then ultimately stepped outside the spotlight of competition for two years.

Seeing her smile back inside the SAP Center at the U.S. Championships in San Jose in 2023 was inspiring to say the very least. This was not the same Simone we saw leading up to Tokyo – there was a genuine competitive spirit, gratefulness and appreciation throughout her own performances and across the sidelines as she cheered on her World Champions Centre teammates. “Every time I come out here, I feel like I’m in a fever dream,” she said. “I feel like nothing’s real. I knew I did a good floor routine, but as soon as I got off and saw the score, I was like, ‘Damn, I need to see that routine.’ Because I wasn’t sure. I’m in the moment. But it doesn’t feel real for some reason. I just, seriously, can’t believe I’m out here competing again. I’m proud of myself for that.”

Yes, this was Biles on her own terms. Trusting herself in a dominating and record-breaking performance that may well never be matched. And a new and beautiful page of history. “Trusting the process and [my coaches], I knew I’d be back,” Biles said.

She’s back and she’s better than ever. And Paris is waiting for her.

Yes, The Queen is about to be in Bercy and as long as Paris is on her terms, no matter the outcome, she’ll be golden.