Simone Biles Racked Up Three Gold Medals in Paris

It was a redemption tour all right. Simone Biles will leave Paris with three gold medals, a few shattered records, and proof that comeback stories are the best kind.

Two days after she and the rest of Team USA slid into first place at the team events on Tuesday, Biles blazed through the individual all-arounds, opening with her signature Yurchenko double pike on the vault before bouncing back from an error on the uneven bars to finish with a score of 59.131.

Behind Biles with silver was Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade, who, as expected, was the superstar’s biggest competition of the day. Andrade trailed closely behind Biles, briefly pulling ahead after Biles’s fumble on the uneven bars, but a shaky beam routine knocked her slightly off course, securing Biles’s lead. The two gymnasts, who’ve competed against each other over the years, exchanged a few hugs and laughs throughout the event.

On Friday, Biles joked: “I love my Black job,” taking a jab at Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric.

Meanwhile, Biles’s American teammate Sunisa Lee elbowed out a tight race for bronze that included Algeria’s French-born Kaylia Nemour and Italy’s Alice D’Amato. She and Biles ran around the floor with the American flag for the second time this week, while Andrade added Brazil’s to the mix.

From there, Biles headed into the specialized events, starting out strong with Saturday’s vault finals. She whipped out one of her namesake moves, the “Biles II,” which is the most challenging vault in the women’s rulebook, and helped bring her total score to 15.300. As usual, Andrade came close to outscoring Biles but chose not to bring out a brand-new vault skill she’s been filmed practicing, giving her a 14.966. That brought Biles’s grand gold-medal total in Paris to three.

Biles, who became the most decorated American gymnast in Olympic history when she and Team USA won the team final on Tuesday, was back at the Games with a vengeance this year after bowing out of most of her Tokyo events four years ago. On Thursday, she revealed that she was wearing a sparkly goat-shaped necklace under her leotard — you know, to go with all those gold medals. (Her parents have also been seen wearing bedazzled GOAT T-shirts.)

Although a lot of reporters have asked her if she’ll keep competing, Biles made it clear she wants to celebrate her many new neck accessories before making any decisions. On Sunday, she wrote on X, “You guys really gotta stop asking athletes what’s next after they win a medal at the Olympics. Let us soak up the moment we’ve worked our whole lives for.” Soak away!

This post has been updated.