PARIS: Simone Biles' sixth Olympic gold medal hung around her neck, along with a twinkling little goatee, just a reminder to the gymnast dubbed the greatest of all time that she does belong in the pantheon of sporting greats.
“I was like, 'OK, if it goes well, we'll wear the goat necklace,'” Biles said after winning a tense all-around final for her second gold medal of the Paris Games.
“I know people are going to be crazy about it, but at the end of the day, it's crazy that I'm in the greatest athlete conversation because I still think I'm Simone Biles from Spring, Texas, who likes to flip .”
Biles, who pushed the boundaries of her sport en route to a staggering 39 world and Olympic medals — 29 of them gold — has not won an all-around event since 2013, when she won her first world all-around title.
She won four gold medals at the 2016 Rio Olympics and seemed poised to end her Olympic legacy in Tokyo three years ago before she withdrew from most of her events as she was struck by a mental block gymnasts call “tricks”.
“It's been eight years,” she said of the gap between Olympic all-around gold medals. “It feels amazing. I was a bit naive in the process. So I appreciate my craft a little more.”
Biles, who said she wasn't sure immediately after Tokyo whether she would return to the world stage, credits coaches Cecile and Laurent Lundy, her family and her own willingness to work hard with her mental health issues for her ability to return after nearly two years away and be even better than ever.
She needed all her mental strength after a miss on the bars midway through the final saw her finish third, albeit just 0.267 behind leader and eventual silver medalist Rebecca Andrade of Brazil.
“I was a little disappointed with my performance on bars,” Biles said. “Normally I don't swing like that.
“I'm not the best bar swinger. I'm not like Suni (Lee) or Kaylia (Nemours), but like, I can swing some bars, you know?”
After a few minutes to “recenter and refocus,” Biles executed a solid floor routine to regain the lead, sealing the win with another dazzling high-flying floor routine.
“I just couldn't believe I made it,” Biles said, adding that she's looking forward to three more finals — vault, beam and floor exercise.
“Now it's time to have some fun and the hard part is over,” she laughed.
And just in case she needs it, she said she has a toy goat in her room in the athletes' village, “just to have a reminder like, 'You can go there, you can do it.' You've done it before, so let's go.'
