Simone Biles, a prominent American gymnast, was observed in a state of deep contemplation during the Olympic all-around final on Thursday. She engaged in a brief huddle with her teammate, Sunisa Lee, before directing her attention towards her husband, Jonathan Owens, who was seated in the stands. Her demeanor suggested a combination of intense focus and a hint of anxiety.

Biles was fully aware that she was currently trailing behind two of her competitors, Rebeca Andrade from Brazil and Kaylia Nemour from Algeria, after completing two rotations of the competition.

Following an inconsistent performance on the uneven bars, which included an uncharacteristic error, Biles composed herself by sitting in a chair, closing her eyes, and disregarding the surrounding media presence.

Subsequently, Biles and Lee engaged in a mathematical analysis to assess the severity of the situation. However, due to the unprecedented nature of the circumstances, they were unable to reach a definitive conclusion.

Owens reassured Biles that she was in good condition, despite being in third place, which Biles verified. His wife of 15 months may have had doubts about this assertion at the time..

“I’ve just never been so stressed before,” Biles said.

Possibly due to the absence of recent challenges, the athlete experienced a significant push from Andrade within the energetic Bercy Arena.

However, the initial nervousness gradually dissipated. The 27-year-old, who is reshaping the boundaries of gymnastic capabilities and longevity, proceeded to perform.

Following a remarkable beam routine and a unique floor exercise that set a new standard in her discipline, Biles once again accepted a gold medal from IOC president Thomas Bach, this time accompanied by Lee, who proudly received a bronze medal beside her.

Eight years prior in Rio de Janeiro, Biles was recognized as a teenage sensation. Today, she stands as an unparalleled icon, maintaining her status even in moments of imperfection.

Biles has now accumulated nine Olympic medals, six of which are gold. Although she claims not to monitor her achievements closely, she is indeed aware of them. The "GOAT" necklace she wore in the aftermath is not merely a coincidence, despite her assertion that she is simply “Simone Biles from Spring, Texas, who enjoys flipping.”

This may be true, but she is also the third woman to achieve the distinction of being a two-time Olympic champion, joining the ranks of Larisa Latynina from the Soviet Union in 1956 and 1960, and Vera Caslavska from Czechoslovakia in 1964 and 1968. Furthermore, she is the oldest athlete to secure the top position in the all-around competition since Maria Gorokhovskaya of the Soviet Union, who won the inaugural Olympic all-around title in Helsinki in 1952 at the age of 30.

The nature of the sport has evolved significantly since then. The era of “little girls in pretty boxes” is a thing of the past. Biles has been a driving force behind this transformation, showcasing her talent one performance at a time. This is why prominent figures such as the U.S. men’s basketball team and Kendall Jenner are drawn to watch her compete on Thursday.

When Biles tried to downplay her impact, Lee corrected her.

“Honestly Simone, I think a lot of it has to do with you,” Lee said.

Even if her 39th world or Olympic medal didn’t come as easily as most of the 38 before it.

She misjudged a transition on uneven bars, the weakest of her four events, letting go of the upper bar too soon and forcing her to reach for a larger-than-expect gap.

While she didn’t fall — Biles muscled her way back into the routine — it blunted her momentum and led to major deductions that left her behind Andrade through two rotations.

The deficit didn’t last.

Biles responded with a largely wobble-free 14.566 on the balance beam, the highest of the night among the 24 finalists, while Andrade was forced to do a major balance check during her slightly easier set that dropped her down to second heading into floor exercise, Biles’ signature event.

Andrade, the silver medalist behind Lee in 2021, needed the best floor set of her life to catch Biles. It didn’t quite happen. Andrade stepped out of bounds at one point, a minor problem but enough to create plenty of wiggle room for Biles.

“I don’t want to compete with Rebeca no more,” Biles said. “I’m tired. Like, she’s way too close. I’ve never had an athlete that close.”

Biles incorporated music from pop icons Taylor Swift and Beyonce into her current routine, a 75-second set that began with the opening bars of Swift’s hit “Ready For It?” and featured the hardest tumbling done by a woman in the history of the sport.

When she was done — sealing gold that served as a redemption of sorts three years after pulling out of multiple finals in Tokyo to focus on her mental health — Biles sprinted to hug Lee just off the podium and blew kisses to the cameras that have become fixtures wherever she goes under the Olympic rings.

After the final score was announced, Biles and Lee — both Olympic champions — bolted onto the floor, waving an American flag.

Lee, the Tokyo winner with Biles sidelined, is the first to win gold in all-around one Games then earn another medal in the next since Comaneci in 1976 and ’80. She did it despite spending much of the last 15 months dealing with multiple kidney diseases that left her return to the Games very much in doubt.

“I just wanted to prove to myself that I could do it because I didn’t think that I could,” Lee said.

While there may be more medals on the way — Biles is in three event finals later in the Games — the all-around puts her into the conversation as perhaps the greatest American Olympian ever.

Yet she’s also far more than that.

She’s a vocal advocate for survivors of sexual abuse and the importance of proper mental health. She met virtually with her therapist before the Americans won gold in the team final on Tuesday. They kept their regular Thursday appointment too.

Biles relied on the internal work she’s done over the years after that rocky bars routine. She sat with her legs crossed on a chair in her blue sequined leotard and joked she was “praying to every single God out there.”

In reality, she was trying to re-center herself. And then she moved on. It’s what she does.

Biles has said repeatedly over the last three years that what happened in Tokyo is a part of her past, not her present, and if critics have a problem with it, that’s their issue, not hers.

She’s moved on to bigger things. Like setting a standard that may never be reached. In her gymnastics for sure, and maybe others too. When trying to count the number of active Olympians who have stood atop their sport for 11 years and counting, no math is required.

There is only one. AP