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American gymnastics star Simone Biles narrowly won the individual all-around event to win her second Olympic gold medal of the Games and her sixth overall in Paris.
Biles won Thursday’s thrilling all-around with 59.131 points, beating back-to-back Olympic silver medalist Rebeca Andrade of Brazil by 1.199 points, the smallest margin of victory for Biles in an international title since she won her third world championship in 2015.
Biles, who lost her way on the rails, was only third after the second rotation, but rose to first again on beam, and since Andrade was unable to put together a strong free program beyond expectations, it was already certain that Biles could go to the mat. In third place was Tokyo Olympic champion Sunisa Lee, who has been battling kidney problems for more than a year.
At 27, Biles became the oldest gymnast to win the OM all-around title since Maria Gorohovskaya, then 30, won the first Olympic gold medal in the event in Melbourne in 1952. Biles also became the third two-time Olympic all-around champion, joining Larissa Latonina and Vera Kaslavska.
Biles has now won six gold medals at the Olympics and nine overall, the same as one of the greatest gymnasts of all time, Nadia Comanec, who watched in the all-around competition in Paris on Thursday.
“It’s crazy to think that I’m in this conversation (of the greatest athletes of all time) because, for me, I’m still Simone Biles from Spring, Texas, who just loves to do somersaults,” Biles told US media after her victory.
The American woman can go for three more gold medals at the Paris Olympics.
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