19-year-old Simone Biles is having some summer. In fact, she’s currently putting on one of the greatest athletic performances the world has ever seen.
In an Olympic games packed with historic performances and farewells–Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps, Katie Ledecky–Biles has blown the world away with her flawless, seamless gymnastic routines, and she captured her 4th gold medal of the month just moments ago in the Floor final, giving her a near-perfect record of 4-of-5 (she won bronze in the Beam final yesterday after a slip).
Biles dominance began with the Women’s Team All-Around event last week, and continued to the Individual All-Around and the Vault, a stretch that saw the gifted 19-year-old win 3 consecutive Gold medals. She admitted to being “annoyed” with her Bronze Beam performance yesterday, but she certainly made up for it today, taking home Gold with a final score of 15.966, a full .466 points above fellow Team USA gymnast Aly Raisman, who took home Silver.
Biles’ victory and 4th Gold medal put her in elite company. Only 3 other women in Olympic history–Nastia Liukin (2008), Shannon Miller (1992) and Mary Lou Retton (1984)–have won 4 Gold gymnastics medals in the same Olympic games.
The Floor was the final event of these games for Biles, but we have far from heard the last of her. Look for her, Raisman, and the rest of the dominant U.S. ladies to return in 2020 in Tokyo to defend their multiple titles.
