In Protecting Herself, Simone Biles Achieved Something Greater Than All-Around Gold

PARIS — Simone Biles is the best gymnast in the world once again.

Biles took the win at Thursday's individual all-around final with a 59.131, over a point ahead of reigning silver medalist Rebeca Andrade of Brazil, despite an error on the uneven bars. Sunisa Lee, the reigning Olympic champion in this event, took bronze. With this gold, Biles has become the oldest all-around champion in 72 years.

"All in all, I'm super proud of my performance tonight and the fight that I've had mentally and physically for the past three years," Biles said after the meet.

"I've never been so stressed before; thank you, Rebeca," she joked about Andrade, who nearly edged her out in the standings. "I've never had an athlete that close, so it definitely put me on my toes."

It was a big win for Biles after having withdrawn from the event at the Tokyo Olympics. It was an even bigger win for her message of prioritizing mental wellness.

It's still unclear why Biles came down with a case of the twisties in Tokyo, forcing her to withdraw from most of her finals, but mental health and the pressure to win gold were implicated. "There were a couple of days when everybody tweets you and you feel the weight of the world," she said at the time.

"Leading up to Tokyo, I was so nervous about getting injured physically that I kind of neglected my mental health," she said following the all-around competition.

There was plenty of public support for her choice, and she was applauded for bringing awareness to mental health issues. But the haters were loud. Some critics called Biles a quitter, not realizing, or not caring, that continuing to compete would have meant putting herself in great danger. As we saw in her new Netflix documentary Simone Biles Rising, she heard them, and it impacted her.

"America hates me," was her first thought when she withdrew, she said on the podcast Call Her Daddy. "The world is going to hate me. And I can only see what they're saying on Twitter right now."

Not much has changed since then—with viewership dropping, Biles is the main attraction at these Games, and expectations for her are high. When she entered the arena Thursday, a cameraman followed her all the way to the other side of the arena, where she took her seat near the vault runway. When she won, they swarmed.

Any member of the press looking for a moment alone with Biles would have been disappointed at these Games, as she opted not to speak to the media as an individual until after she's done competing. She spoke at a press conference along with her team after that final, and spoke with the other medalists after this event. But there is a shield she's put up between herself and the public that's reminiscent of Naomi Osaka, who famously forewent media interaction for the sake of her mental health at the 2021 French Open.

We saw this play out in the qualification round, when Biles tweaked her calf, a moment that sent the press into a frenzy. If they wanted to know exactly what was happening, Biles and her team weren't going to give them the satisfaction. Biles sat to the side with the team doctor, who blocked their mouths with a piece of paper. Coach Cecile Landi, perhaps inadvertently, stood in front of her, blocking the cameras from view.

Biles later crawled on the floor in pain and laughed at herself. After the team final, when she was asked about it, she said with a smile, "Y'all are so nosy! Just give me a break." What if Kerri Strug, surrounded by the media after being carried off the podium following her gold-medal-clinching vault, had told them to give her a break?

Gymnasts have, historically, been seen as young, submissive and fragile. A toxic culture worldwide made it difficult for athletes to feel like they had a voice, or any power. Change is happening, and the way Biles conducts herself contributes to that.

Prioritizing mental health has been a running theme for Biles in the leadup to these Games. The first thing she said in her post-Trials interview was not crediting her coaches, her teammates, or her family, but to tell us that she sees her therapist every Thursday. "That's why I'm here today," she said. After the team final and the all-around final, she told the media that she had spoken with her therapist that morning.

She takes time to protect other athletes as well. Biles has been spotted mentoring other gymnasts, lifting them up after rough routines. At Thursday's event, Biles yelled words of encouragement to Andrade, her toughest competitor, during her beam routine. At nationals this year, after Sunisa Lee struggled on vault, Biles was there to support her.

"It was really nice having her in my corner," Lee said.

She's been showing them support in another, very public, way. Last month, Olympic floor silver medalist MyKayla Skinner, who is now retired, took to YouTube to give her opinion on the Olympic team following Trials.

"Besides Simone, I feel like the talent and the depth just isn't what it used to be," she said. "Obviously, a lot of girls don't work as hard ... The girls just don't have the work ethic."

The backlash was immediate. After Tuesday's team final, Biles came to her teammates' defense, posting a photo of the women with their gold medals on Instagram with the caption, "lack of talent, lazy, olympic champions." Later, she wrote on X, "oop I've been blocked."

When the final scores were announced Thursday, Biles and Lee hugged and held an American flag between them. They ran onto the floor and jumped up and down, waving to the crowd, radiating joy.

It's unclear whether Biles will continue to do gymnastics after these Olympics. In any event, we know that she will have finished her career on her own terms, and left the sport better than how she found it.