US gym star Biles is living her Olympic dream
US GYMNASTICS star Simone Biles, whose incredible life story is the stuff of Hollywood movies, admitted on Tuesday she was finally living her Olympic dream.
Too young to compete in London, Biles had watched from home as Gabby Douglas and a US team dubbed the Furious Five took all-around and team gold.
Four years on, Biles, 19, has eclipsed Douglas, 20, as the golden girl of the US gymnastics team.
And competing in a team now dubbed the Final Five in honour of retiring national team coordinator Martha Karolyi, the US outclassed their rivals to take a third women’s team title in Rio’s Olympic Arena on Tuesday night.
The score raked up by Biles, Douglas, Aly Raisman, Madison Kocian and Laurie Hernandez was more than eight points clear of silver medallist Russia.
“It’s everything and more than I’d hoped it to be,” Biles said, sitting alongside her teammates with her first Olympic gold around her neck.
Later, she tweeted: “Dreams DO come true.”
Despite being an Olympic newcomer, Biles is already one of the most decorated women in gymnastics history.
A gold in Rio has completed her incredible rise in just three years with more titles on the horizon ahead of today’s all-around and finals on vault, floor and balance beam to come.
As well as being the first to win three consecutive all-around world titles, she has won more world championships gold medals – 10 – than any other female gymnast in history.
She said: “It didn’t feel like the Olympics. It was just another competition for us.”
It has been an incredible journey for the 145cm gymnast born in Columbus, Ohio, and adopted by her maternal grandparents, Ron and Nellie Biles, of Texas.
Her grandparents (Mom and Dad to her) were cheering in the stands in Rio as she collected her first gold medal. – AFP