PARIS: Simone Biles' sixth Olympic gold medal was draped around her neck, along with a shiny little goat. It was a reminder to the gymnast hailed as the greatest of all time that she is indeed one of the sport's greats.
“I thought, OK, if I do well, I’ll wear the goat necklace,” Biles said after winning a thrilling all-around final to win her second gold medal at the Paris Olympics.
“I know people are going crazy, but it's crazy to be in the conversation about who the greatest athlete of all time is. I still think of myself as Simone Biles from Springfield, Texas. I like to flip.”
Pushing the boundaries of her sport to win an incredible 39 world and Olympic medals (29 of them gold), Biles hasn't lost an all-around competition since winning her first world all-around title in 2013.
She won four gold medals at the 2016 Rio Olympics and was poised to continue her Olympic legacy in Tokyo three years ago, but suffered from a mental block, what gymnasts call a “twisty,” and withdrew from most of her competitions.
“It’s been eight years,” she said of the gap between her Olympic all-around gold medals. “It’s amazing. I was a little naive along the way, so I appreciate my skills a little more.”
Biles, who said she wasn't sure she'd return to the world stage immediately following the Tokyo Olympics, credits coaches Cecile and Laurent Landi, her family and her own determination to work through her mental health issues for helping her return to form better than ever after a nearly two-year hiatus.
She had to muster all her mental energy to finish in third place midway through the final after a mistake on the uneven bars, just 0.267 points behind leader and eventual silver medalist Rebecca Andrade of Brazil.
“I was a little disappointed with my performance on the bar,” Biles said. “It's not how I normally swing.
“I'm not the best bar swinger. I'm not like Suni (Lee) or Kaylia (Nemur), but I can swing a bar, you know?”
After a few minutes to “recenter and refocus,” Biles reclaimed the lead with a solid balance beam routine, then sealed the victory with another dazzling, high-flying floor routine.
“I couldn't believe I did it,” Biles said, adding that she's looking forward to competing in the next three finals: vault, beam and floor exercise.
“Now it's time to have fun. The hard part is over,” she said with a smile.
And she said she keeps a toy goat in her room at the athletes' village in case she needs it. “It's just a reminder, like, 'You can go out there. You can do it. You've done it before. Let's go.'”
