Paris, July 31 (IANS) Simone Biles led USA to a gold medal win in the women’s artistic gymnastics team event at the Paris Olympics.
The USA totalled a 171.296 to finish on top, Italy took the silver woth 165.494. Brazil won the bronze, a historic first, with a finals score of 164.497.
It’s the fourth win for America in the team event, having taken the titles at Atlanta 1996, London 2012 and Rio 2016.
On the other hand, this is Italy’s only second medal in women’s gymnastics team event, their last came in 1928, a silver in the inaugural staging of the event.
“It feels amazing. We love it, we’re excited. We got the job done,” Biles told Olympics.com.
She joined Gabby Douglas and Aly Raisman as the only two Americans to own two Olympic team gold medals. Overall, this is Biles fifth Olympic gold medal.
Biles has qualified for another four finals in Paris, with her next medal opportunity coming in Thursday’s all-around final, followed by the vault final on Saturday and the floor and beam finals on Monday.
In the Tokyo Olympics, USA finished finished second after entering Tokyo as the heavy favourites. Biles withdrew after botching her attempt at a two-and-a-half twisting vault to priortise her mental health.
It led to her pulling out of four individual finals at the Games where she had been tipped for several gold medals.
–IANS
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