Simone Biles Takes Gold And Aly Raisman Silver In Gymnastics All-Around In Rio Olympics

Simone Biles won the gold medal in the individual all-around gymnastics final in Rio Thursday evening, recovering from second place– where she found herself halfway through the event–to remain the definitive champion. Her US teammate Aly Raisman won silver.

Simone Biles Takes Gold, Aly Raisman Silver In Gymnastics All-Around In Rio Olympics

The two Americans’ individual victories come two days after they won a second consecutive gold medal for the U.S. women’s gymnastics team all-around. But on Thursday, they were up against each other, as well as 22 of the world’s top gymnasts.

After the first half of Thursday’s rotations were complete, Biles was still in second place, trailing Russia’s Aliya Mustafina 30.866 to 30.832, while Raisman followed closely behind in third. Nevertheless, Biles finished off strong, delivering the highest-scoring performances of the day on her last two turns. Raisman followed suit, scoring second-highest.

The final scores for the top three were 62.198 for Biles; 60.098 for 22-year-old Raisman; and 58.665 for 21-year-old Mustafina.

Biles, 19, now joins Mary Lou Retton, Carly Patterson, Nastia Liukin and London 2012 champion Gabby Douglas as American all-around winners.

Victory in this event typically brings lucrative endorsements and widespread admiration. Standing at 4 feet 9 inches, with size 5 feet, Biles’ accomplishments thus far seem even more impressive.

In the individual all-around, four groups of gymnasts rotate around the arena to the different sections of the event–and the uneven bars, which neither Biles nor Raisman specialize in, were in the first half of their rotation. Their group started on the vault and finished on the balance beam and the floor exercise.

First came the Amanar vault in which the gymnast performs a round-off onto the board, followed by a back handspring onto the table. She then does two-and-a-half twists before a blind landing.

Per usual, Biles soared higher and farther than anyone else, though she made her landing with a big step. It was still enough to earn her the top score of the day. Raisman also finished well on her Amanar.

However, after the uneven bars, Biles found herself in an unfamiliar place: second. a strong showing by Mustafina the 2012 champion in bars, and an average one by Biles put the Russian up by a small margin. Raisman, meanwhile, fell to fourth.

The bars is Biles’ weakest event, but her drop in the standings after that did not cause the three-time world champion to lose her focus. She appeared momentarily nervous on the balance beam, wobbling at one point. Nevertheless, she made a great landing. After Mustafina over-rotated her full turn, had a few balance checks and left out a front aerial. Biles was back in front, and Raisman moved into third.

The competition finally ended with the floor exercise. Biles’s first pass is a full-twisting double layout, and she followed that with the move for which she is the namesake, the “Biles:” a double layout with a half-twist, then a single leap. Her third and four passes were just as incredible. One of her coaches, Aimee Boorman, seemed to be crying as Biles came off the floor. Her final score was 15.933, the highest of the day on any part of the competition.

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – AUGUST 11: Gold medalist Simone Biles of the United States poses for photographs after the medal ceremony for the Women’s Individual All Around on Day 6 of the 2016 Rio Olympics at Rio Olympic Arena on August 11, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)