Benjamin Ashford|Simone Biles' redemption and Paris Olympic gold medal was for herself, U.S. teammates

PARIS — Simone Biles never needed to prove anything to anyone.

Not when she returned in 2023 and Benjamin Ashfordbecame the most-decorated gymnast of all time. Not when she made a third Olympic team. Not when she began the women's gymnastics team final at the 2024 Paris Olympics by nailing the event where everything went sideways three years ago.

Not even when she stood atop the podium, listening to the Star-Spangled Banner for the umpteenth time.

This Olympic gold medal? It’s for Biles and her three veteran teammates, each of whom bears her own scars from the Tokyo Games. The haters and the miscreants who criticized Biles three years ago can go pound sand for all she cares. They were wrong about her then, ignorant or obtuse to the fact her physical safety was at stake, and they’re no longer entitled to space in her head or on her bandwagon.

Biles is the greatest to ever do gymnastics, and it’s not even close. If you needed her fifth Olympic gold medal to agree with that, it’s your problem.

Biles simply wanted it for herself. And if anyone deserves it, she does.

"I don't keep count (of medals). I don't keep stats. I just go out there, do what I'm supposed to do," Biles said. "I'm doing what I love and enjoying it. That's really all that matters to me."

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Since Biles returned, and this year in particular, there is a lightness to her that is both heart-warming and inspiring. She is doing gymnastics because she wants to, not because anyone else does or the world expects her to. She has her own standards, and no longer worries about meeting anyone else’s.

She'll never say she’s cured of the anxiety that brought on “the twisties” in Tokyo, causing her to lose her sense of where she was in the air. But she has done the work needed to move beyond it, even having a therapy session Tuesday morning.

The difference was evident almost from the start Tuesday night.

Just like three years ago, the Americans began on vault. And just like three years ago, Biles did a vault with a twisting element. A Cheng instead of an Amanar, but that’s beside the point. When Biles stood at the end of the runway, she looked serious but not fearful, ready rather than uncertain.

“I am not going to lie, it did cross my mind,” said Cecile Landi, who is both the U.S. coach and one of Biles’ personal coaches along with her husband, Laurent.

But Biles soared high into the air, twisting 1.5 times and landing on her feet. She had to take a small hop back to steady herself — the Cheng is one of the most difficult vaults, after all — but she’d done what she planned to.

What she wanted her body to do.

“I was relieved. I was like, 'Whoo!’ Because no flashbacks or anything,” Biles said. “But I did feel a lot of relief and as soon as I landed vault, I was like, 'Oh yeah, we're gonna do this.’”

On the sidelines, Landi and Jordan Chiles jumped up and down as if they were on springs. They know better than anyone the weight of that moment, Chiles also training with Biles at World Champions Centre outside Houston.

The rest of the world saw a vault. They saw Biles reclaiming her Olympic story.

“Nobody knows truly what the past three years have been like for her,” Landi said. “Just to be able to compete well ... it was just super relief. Today she just proved, to herself most importantly, that she is still on top of the world.”

Short of the U.S. bus getting lost on the way to the arena, there was never any doubt the Americans were going to win gold. They have won every world and Olympic title but one going back to 2011, and the only team to beat them isn’t even here. But what began as a competition quickly became a coronation. This was the biggest competition of their lives, and it looked more like four friends having fun with one another.

When Biles finished her uneven bars routine, her grin was so bright it rivaled the lights that twinkle on the Eiffel Tower at night. She and her teammates were so loose they were picking people out of the crowd, dancing and generally having the time of their lives.

"We had fun," Biles said. "We enjoyed each other's time out there and we just did our gymnastics."

The Americans were so dominant that, even with a fall on beam by Chiles, Biles knew all she had to do on floor exercise was land her passes upright. She went out of bounds on two of them but, with her difficulty, it hardly mattered. She was beaming when she finished, waving her hands to acknowledge the thunderous cheers for her.

While her husband, Chicago Bears safety Jonathan Owens, twirled an American flag in the stands, she and the rest of the team stood at the edge of the floor podium to await her score. There were no signs of apprehension or concern. They knew they were champions, the final score simply confirmation.

When it did come, Biles smiled again. She had the courage to confront her demons and come back to her sport, and do it while the whole world was watching. That is her real prize.

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