As one teammate, Joscelyn Roberson, was downed by a shock injury in the warm-ups and others were tense under the pressure of international competition, Simone Biles’s first final back on Wednesday night gave an appropriate demonstration of the more underrated qualities that have made her so successful for so long.
Biles is certainly the best gymnast in the world, but the 26-year-old’s success is also driven by the mental strength that has allowed her to win so consistently and under so much pressure. When her teammates needed her, she was there. Biles’s all-around total in the team final was 58.732, 1.633 points higher than the second-best performer and she closed out the night with one of her best-ever floor routines.
