At the world gymnastics championships last year, days after her spectacular comeback began with a stellar all-around gold medal, Simone Biles’ first vault final ended with a fall. It was the first time that she had performed her famed Yurchenko Double Pike in a major final and as she searched for the floor after the vault, her legs crumbled beneath her. Biles finished in second place behind Rebeca Andrade of Brazil.
As the Simone Biles redemption tour continues and the Olympic gold medals keep on coming, this time she reasserted her status as the greatest vaulter of all time, keeping Andrade at bay with another supreme exhibition. Biles finished the Olympic vault final with an average score of 15.3. In second place, Andrade averaged 14.966 and Biles’ teammate Jade Carey scored an average of 14.466 for an individual bronze medal.
This is the second time that Biles has won the vault Olympic gold medal after also doing so in 2016. With three golds this year in the team, all-around and now vault, she has now won 40 Olympic and world medals overall, further extending her record as the most decorated gymnast – man or woman – in history.
In her fourth performance of the Paris games, the 27-year-old continues to be one of the main attractions. As the gymnasts emerged, the mere mention of her name generated cheers that shook the Bercy Arena. During her warm up, Biles’ timer vault – where she attempts a simple back layout in order to establish her rhythm – elicited gasps. Her audience included the now-retired Andy Murray and Billie Jean King.
As the fourth gymnast up with all the top medal contenders later in the lineup, the main event came quickly. On her first vault, the Yurchenko double pike, she flew high into the rafters, easily wrapping around two flips with just a small backwards hop. She was immediately smiling as she rushed to embrace her coach, Laurent Landi. As Biles walked back down the vault runway, she received a score of 15.7. With the monster vault out of the way, Biles followed it up with a brilliant Cheng vault, scoring 14.9.
So often in gymnastics, the higher difficulty a gymnast attempts, the more execution deductions they often receive as they strain to perform these extremely difficult skills. The remarkable part of Biles’ first vault, and so many of her skills, is how the execution is also elevated despite the mindblowing difficulty. She was rewarded with a 9.4 execution score. The American again executed the skill immaculately, her legs straight and packed tightly together in piked position and she landed with her chest high up on the landing.
Only Andrade recorded a higher execution score than Biles in the final as the Brazilian performed two incredibly difficult vaults, the Cheng and the Amanar, almost as well as she possibly could to secure a silver medal. It was one of the best series of vaults the sport has ever seen from a special gymnast who continues to position herself as one of the greatest gymnasts of the 21st century in her own right.
But Biles is just so far above anyone who has ever come before her and she continues to meet every challenge without hesitation. Afterwards, Andrade noted that Biles has provided direct inspiration for her success. “Simone is from another world, but we always try to get better and evolve in the best way possible,” said Andrade. “To be able to watch her do her incredible gymnastics is an encouragement for everyone to do their best.”
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With three medals secured, Biles’ next opportunity to add to her haul will come on the final day of gymnastics on Monday in the beam and floor finals. She is also the first alternate in the uneven bars after finishing in ninth place, meaning she would also compete there on Sunday if there is a withdrawal. With the stress of the team and all-around finals out the way, she appears even more relaxed as she enjoys the final days of what is turning out to be a memorable Games.
“The Olympics is such a draining process for the athletes, and it’s multiple days of competition, so you definitely have to be on top of your mental as well as physical [state],” she said. “So as long as we’re doing that, then we’re good. And so far I feel good.”
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