To paraphrase the illustrious LL Cool J, don’t call it a comeback — she’s been here for years.
Houston’s G.O.A.T. Simone Biles led the U.S. women won a record seventh consecutive team title at the 2023 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships late Wednesday, October 4 in Antwerp, Belgium.
Biles, the most decorated female gymnast in history, lead an American team that includes Shilese Jones, Skye Blakely, and Leanne Wong. Together, the Team USA combined for a total of 167.729, per the Associated Press. That score edged out Brazil and France by a rather tight margin of 2.199 points — closer than many had predicted.
With this win, the U.S. women have won gold in the team event at every world championship that included a team competition since 2011. Additionally, the big win in Antwerp broke a tie with the Chinese men for the longest streak of consecutive team titles, the AP notes.
As for our G.O.A.T., she now boasts 20 gold medals out of 26 world championship medals. That hardware goes on her crowded mantle along with seven Olympic medals for a total of 33 combined, which bests even female gymnastics icon Larisa Latynina of the Soviet Union, who dominated between the ’50s and ’60s.
As for the Antwerp finals, things turned dramatic early when Team USA’s promising 17-year-old Joscelyn Roberson injured her ankle during vault warmups and had to be carried off the floor and was replaced by Wong.
Biles became the first woman to land the Yurchenko double pike on the vault in a major competition.Photo by Matthias Hangst/Getty Images
Team USA rallied and recovered, with Jones leading off the competition. With the pressure on, Wong was impressive on the floor, while Biles opted for a somewhat conservative (for her, anyway) vault dubbed “The Cheng.” That's noteworthy as Biles was hardly when she executed a jaw-dropping Yurchenko double pike vault during the World Gymnastics Championships on Monday, October 2.
For her history-making effort, Biles will now have the acrobatic skill named for her. All hail the Biles II.
Wednesday night, Biles was nothing short of spectacular. Harking back to her dazzling 2016 Olympic showing, Biles scored an impressive 15.166 on a memorable floor routine.
Yet another shiny medal will surely fuel Biles as she and her worldwide legion of supporters eye an Olympic return. In September, she “bet” on competing in the 2024 Paris games in September, which made fans across the globe beg our G.O.A.T. to go for the gold — again.
