Simone Biles takes all-around gold at Olympics

Gold medal winner Simone Biles of the United States and bronze medal winner Sunisa Lee celebrate their victory

Gold medal winner Simone Biles and bronze medal winner Sunisa Lee celebrate their victory

(Image credit: Tim Clayton / Corbis via Getty Images)

published 2 August 2024

What happened

American gymnast Simone Biles won the women's Olympic all-around gymnastics competition on Thursday in Paris, taking home her ninth Olympic medal — and sixth gold. She defeated Brazil's Rebeca Andrade and fellow American Suni Lee, who won bronze.

Biles is the "only American gymnast to win gold in the all-around final more than once," NBC said. The 27-year-old is also the "oldest Olympics women's gymnastics champ since 1952," The Associated Press said. Biles' win comes three years after she withdrew from the Tokyo Games, prompting critics to call her a "loser, a quitter and un-American," The New York Times said. This year, she "proved to the world, and to herself, that she was unstoppable."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Rafi Schwartz has worked as a politics writer at The Week since 2022, where he covers elections, Congress and the White House. He was previously a contributing writer with Mic focusing largely on politics, a senior writer with Splinter News, a staff writer for Fusion's news lab, and the managing editor of Heeb Magazine, a Jewish life and culture publication. Rafi's work has appeared in Rolling Stone, GOOD and The Forward, among others.