They have done it again!
Team USA won gold in the women’s gymnastics team final at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday, July 30, marking a spectacular return to form for superstar Simone Biles, who helped lead her team to victory after leaving midway through the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
Biles, Jade Carey, Jordan Chiles, Sunisa Lee, and Hezly Rivera outscored Italy and Brazil, who finished second and third, respectively, with a final score of 171.296, 5.802 points ahead of the silver medalists.
Biles, 27, now has five gold medals; Lee and Carey have two, while Chiles and Rivera have one, even though the latter did not compete in any apparatuses Tuesday. Team USA had previously won silver in the event at the Tokyo and Beijing Games, as well as gold in Rio and London.
Chiles, 23, Carey, 24, and Biles started strong on the vault, all scoring above 14 (Biles, who won gold in the identical discipline in Rio in 2016, got the best at 14.900).
Then, on the uneven bars, Chiles, Biles, and Lee, 21, maintained their momentum, scoring above 14 once again. Lee topped her team on the balance beam with a 14.600, while Chiles and Biles got 13.966 and 14.666 on the floor routine, respectively.
“It was amazing to watch,” U.S. gymnastics technical director Chellsie Memmel told media, including PEOPLE, after the competition finished. “I know I was nervous throughout the whole competition, but they did their job.”
Biles’ ability to make this comeback “speaks volumes of her strength,” according to Memmel.
“We all knew she could do it; there was never a question in my mind, and it solidifies her place as the greatest gymnast ever.”
Plenty of renowned names and loved ones were in the crowd at Bercy Arena to cheer on the women’s gymnastics team, who won gold only one night after the U.S. men’s team grabbed bronze, their first medal since 2008.
The individual finals will kick off with the all-around competition on August 1. Biles and Lee, who won gold in Tokyo after Biles withdrew, will represent the United States. It will be the first time two all-around gold medalists compete in an Olympic Games.
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