Simone Biles and Suni Lee deserve crowns, but for now, they have Olympic medals. Simone, 27, won gold in the women’s individual all-around final, while Suni, 21, won bronze. The two Team USA champs were accompanied on the podium by Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade, who won silver in the competition on Thursday, August 1.
Both Simone and Suni started the competition on vault, with Simone completing the complicated Yurchenko double pike, a.k.a the Biles II. She ended up scoring a 15.766. As for Suni, she scored a 13.933 on vault. Next was the uneven bars, which Simone scored a 13.733 on, while Suni received a 14.866. On beam, Simone earned a 14.566, and Suni got an even 14.00 for her routine.
On floor, the two women executed their exercises with enough strength, agility and precision to earn them top spots on the board. Suni received a 13.66, while Simone concluded the event with a 15.066.
Simone Biles and Suni Lee receive their gold and bronze medals 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/6ycqljroCg
— The Sporting News (@sportingnews) August 1, 2024
Earlier this week, Simone and Suni helped Team USA take home the gold medal. This was the fourth consecutive time the American gymnastics team has medaled at the Olympic Games.
The road to the Paris Olympics was strenuous for Simone and Suni. Both Olympians had temporarily stepped away from the sport while managing their individual battles.
Simone Biles just secured her SIXTH gold medal in the women's all-around gymnastics final with a CLUTCH routine 🥇 🇺🇸https://t.co/E86eS1vFJ3pic.twitter.com/8gxZAQleNg
— 5 GOATs (@5GOATs_) August 1, 2024
At the last games in Tokyo, Simone suffered from the “twisties,” and she had to bow out of the competition. The phenomenon is when a gymnast suffers from a mental block, leading them to be unaware of where they are in the air. As a result, Simone faced relentless criticism from social media users and public figures, many of whom called her a “quitter.” She eventually opened up about the ordeal in her Netflix docuseries, Simone Biles: Rising, which premiered ahead of the Paris Olympics.
“Everywhere I went I felt like they could see ‘loser’ or ‘quitter’ across my head,” Simone said in the series. “I always felt like everyone was staring at me, even if they weren’t.”
As for Suni, the former Auburn University student was diagnosed with two forms of kidney disease after competing in her first Olympics in 2021. Earlier this summer, the gymnast admitted that she “didn’t think [she] would be here” competing again.
“So, getting through all of those events and … everything that we had to go through this week to get to where we are right now, it was just such a hard, incredible journey,” Suni said on TODAY.