Simone Biles held off Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade for all-around Olympics gymnastics gold. At 27, she’s the oldest Olympic women’s gymnastics champ since 1952.
But Biles isn't the only women in the all-around final. A recent Alabama graduate made the final while competing for Colombia.
First, Biles’ gold, by the numbers:
- 1. 6: Her new total of Olympic golds, third-most in women’s gymnastics history. Larisa Latynina of the Soviet Union won nine and Czechoslovakia’s Vera Caslavska won seven.
- 2. 9: Her new total of Olympic medals, the seventh woman with at least that many.
- 3. 34: The number of consecutive all-around competitions at the national and international level she has won, a streak that goes back to 2013.
- 4. $75,000: The number of dollars in bonus money she’s won from the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee so far in these Paris Games. The Americans pay $37,500 for gold medals.
The U.S. was the first nation to win five straight women’s all-around Olympic gold medals when Sunisa Lee prevailed at the Tokyo Games three years ago. Make it six.
Biles is now the third woman to win two Olympic all-around titles. Lee won in Tokyo, Biles at Rio de Janeiro in 2016, Gabby Douglas at London in 2012, Nastia Liukin at Beijing in 2008 and Carly Patterson at Athens in 2004.
The earliest another nation could pass the U.S. for this run of consecutive all-around dominance: 2052, and that’s if one country wins the next seven Olympic titles in that event.
Meantime, Luisa Blanco, a Texas native and recent Alabama graduate, made the final while competing for Colombia. Blanco’s parents are Colombian and she obtained dual citizenship over the last year.
She began competing for Colombia last fall and her performance at the Pan American Games helped her earn a spot under the rings.
Read more about the 2024 Olympics here.
