'The Redemption Tour' Is Over: Did Simone Biles and Team USA Fix Past Failures?
Simone Biles and the U.S. women’s national gymnastics team are on top of the world — a familiar spot, to say the least.
Biles and teammates Jade Carey, Jordan Chiles, Sunisa Lee and Hezly Rivera took home the gold on Tuesday, capping off a whirlwind comeback that outlets like ESPN and The Associated Press are calling “The Redemption Tour.”
THIS IS THEIR MOMENT! 🇺🇸#ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/VJINkBHtS8
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 30, 2024
The Americans totaled 171.296 points in the Artistic Gymnastics event, leaving Italy in a distant second place.
Brazil rounded out the top three teams with a bronze medal performance.
Each star for Team USA had a chance to shine.
Here’s a big moment for Biles:
WOW. SIMONE BILES JUST DID THAT. 🔥 #ParisOlympics
📺 NBC and Peacock pic.twitter.com/l4pLcI1QGg
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 30, 2024
Here’s Chiles on her beam routine:
Jordan Chiles finishes strong to close out her beam routine. 💪 #ParisOlympics
📺 NBC and Peacock pic.twitter.com/5vPcNlLZKU
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 30, 2024
Here’s Lee on the uneven bars:
Suni Lee’s uneven bars routine just left us SPEECHLESS! 😲 #ParisOlympics
📺 NBC and Peacock pic.twitter.com/mGOk4hMnBD
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 30, 2024
This is Carey getting things started for Team USA:
Jade Carey did NOT come to play. 😤
Starting things off strong for Team USA. #ParisOlympics
📺 NBC and Peacock pic.twitter.com/qKBellq0LB
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 30, 2024
The women’s dominance and ensuing elation is a stark shift from the more morose overtones that surrounded the team at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (which actually took place in 2021 due to COVID).
That competition saw Biles infamously withdrawing from various events, leaving her team in the lurch.
It was enough that Biles, one of the most decorated and generally beloved Americans in Olympics history, faced genuine backlash for pulling out.
(Biles cited a bad case of the “twisties” as to why she pulled out.)
The sudden departure of Biles — and the emotional gut-punch that likely followed — played an outsized role in Team USA’s failure to secure gold in the women’s gymnastics event that year.
Team USA earned silver in Tokyo, ending a streak of back-to-back Olympics where it had won gold.
With the win on Tuesday, Team USA has secured a gold medal in 2012, 2016 and, now, 2024.
Biles, for her part, has teamed with Netflix to produce a documentary about this spirited comeback of hers.
And with this gold medal win, she just gave the Netflix filmmakers a perfect ending.
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