Simone Biles leads U.S. women to gold in Paris. See Full Details
PARIS — The U.S. women’s gymnastics team has returned to the top of the medal stand at the Olympics.
Three years after Simone Biles’s withdrawal derailed the team’s gold-medal hopes, the Americans cruised to the gold here, with Biles as their steady leader.
The U.S. women finished with a 171.296, nearly six points ahead of silver medalist Italy. Brazil took the bronze, and no team was capable of challenging the United States.
Biles endured significant pressure as she approached these Games. Questions loomed about how she would handle such a massive spotlight after a disorienting mental block rattled her at the Tokyo Games.
Even as Biles dominated national-level competitions and the world championships last fall, the Olympics were a bigger test than any she had faced since her return.
Biles officially sealed the gold with the final routine of the evening. She was welcomed onto the floor with a roar and then worked through her difficult tumbling passes. She stepped out of bounds twice, but it was more than enough. Biles and her U.S. teammates had been so strong all evening that the gold was nearly certain before Biles’s music began.
Among the Americans, Jordan Chiles had the only major error — a fall when she mounted the beam with a difficult front pike salto — but otherwise the United States towered above the field with its poise and complex routines.
