Amid the tumultuous atmosphere of the team final at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, when the situation felt overwhelmingly chaotic and Simone Biles had to withdraw midway through, the USA team displayed remarkable resilience in the face of unforeseen challenges. They secured a silver medal, a commendable accomplishment that fueled their desire for greater success.
Each member of the team has endured significant obstacles on their journey back: balancing college gymnastics with elite aspirations, overcoming serious injuries, dealing with a critical kidney condition, facing multiple stalkers, and overcoming the “twisties.”
Remarkably, four athletes—Biles, Sunisa Lee, Jordan Chiles, and Jade Carey—summoned the strength and resolve to compete as a team once again. Three years later, they reestablished the USA’s supremacy in women’s gymnastics by clinching an unassailable gold medal.
Biles further solidified her legacy with an outstanding performance on a night that could have evoked memories of her earlier struggles. During the Tokyo team final, Biles’s vault attempt resulted in a disorienting fall, leading to her withdrawal to avoid further injury.
This time, however, she executed a stunning Cheng vault, setting the stage for a flawless sequence of results. Biles expressed her relief at not experiencing any flashbacks: “At the start of the day, I had therapy and mentioned to her that I was feeling calm and ready, and that’s exactly how it turned out.”
“After I finished vault, I was relieved. I thought: ‘Phew, at least no flashbacks or anything.’ And as soon as I landed, I realized: ‘Oh yeah, I’m definitely going to do this.’”
Chiles, who trains alongside Biles in Texas, celebrated Biles’s vault with sheer joy, saying: “That’s what I was thinking. I was like: ‘Hallelujah, no flashbacks or anything. OK, all she needs to do is just perform her usual routine.’”
“My jumping up and down was just relief. From there, we knew she’s the greatest of all time, so it was: ‘OK, we’re really going to do this and just shine as ourselves.’”
As the USA team moved through the four apparatus with just one fall, the evening culminated with all eyes on Biles as she radiantly performed the final routine of the night, securing the gold medal with a breathtaking display.
With their return to the pinnacle of women’s gymnastics, the USA has now claimed gold in three of the previous four Olympic Games. Biles, already recognized as the most decorated gymnast in history, boasts five Olympic gold medals and a total of 38 world championship and Olympic medals. Her eight medals cement her position as the most decorated U.S. gymnast in Olympic history.
Biles shared that she treasured this team gold even more than the one in 2016. “It didn’t hit me the way it does now,” she stated. “Now that I’m older and we have so much more experience, we are genuinely having fun and enjoying ourselves. It feels completely different.”
While the USA celebrated their victory, Great Britain experienced the disappointment of finishing fourth, narrowly behind the silver medalists Italy and Brazil, who edged GB by a mere 0.234 points.
Georgia-Mae Fenton expressed her feelings: “We really, really stepped up from our qualification round, and it was wonderful to see everyone deliver their best performances. It’s heartbreaking to miss out by such a slim margin.”
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Three years after their unexpected team bronze, Team GB had faced a challenging year with many top gymnasts unavailable due to injuries, and their seventh-place finish in the qualification round highlighted the gap between them and the leading teams.
Commencing their competition on the floor exercise, the team showcased a different attitude. Their uneven bars performance in the qualifying round had been so poor that they humorously mocked themselves on social media the next day.
They bounced back with a strong rotation, highlighted by outstanding performances from Fenton and a stellar routine from Becky Downie, whose score of 14.933 was the third highest in the competition at that moment. Moving to the balance beam in third place, they handled the pressure well with three impressive routines.
Yet it was insufficient. Rebeca Andrade’s exceptional Cheng vault, with a score two-tenths higher than her qualifying performance, was just enough for Brazil to secure third place ahead of them.
Following their balance beam rotation, Team GB briefly believed they had clinched bronze before having to accept fourth place. Fenton remarked, “We weren’t fully aware of the precise scores, and Rebeca’s vault is simply incredible. We had to compete against that.
“However, I couldn’t be prouder of how we rose to the occasion and how much we demonstrated we are still a competitive team.”
