At the world championships last year, a few days after her spectacular comeback began with a stellar all-around gold medal, Simone Biles’s first vault final ended with a fall. It was the first time she had performed her Yurchenko double pike in a major final and as she searched for the floor after the vault, her legs crumpled beneath her. Biles finished in second place behind Rebeca Andrade of Brazil.
As the Biles redemption tour continues and the gold medals keep on coming, she reasserted her status as the greatest vaulter of all time, keeping Andrade at bay with another supreme exhibition. Biles finished the vault final with an average score of 15.3points. Andrade averaged 14.966 and Biles’s teammate, Jade Carey, scored 14.466 for bronze.
This is the second time Biles has won the vault gold medal, following on from 2016. With three golds –in the team, the all-around and the vault competitions – she has now won 40 Olympic and world medals, further extending her record as the most decorated gymnast – man or woman.
In her fourth performance of these 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 arena. During her warmup, Biles’s timer vault – where she attempts a simple back layout in order to establish her rhythm – elicited gasps. Her audience included the newly 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, 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 runway, she received a score of 15.7. With the monster vault out of the way, she followed it up with a brilliant Cheng vault, scoring 14.9.
So often in gymnastics, the higher difficulty attempted, the more execution deductions they receive as they strain to perform these extremely difficult skills. The remarkable part of Biles’s 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.
Only Andrade recorded a higher execution score than Biles 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 seen from Andrade, a special gymnast who continues to position herself as one of the best of the 21st century. But Biles is just so far above anyone who has come before her and she continues to meet every challenge without hesitation.
Andrade noted 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,” she said.
“To be able to watch her do her incredible gymnastics is an encouragement for everyone to do their best.”
With three gold medals secured, Biles’s 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.”
