Simone Biles delivers stunning return to Olympics in ￡2,333 diamond-encrusted leotard
Simone Biles starred on her hotly anticipated return to the Olympic stage as the world’s most decorated gymnast completed a mesmeric display that underlined that she is back to her best.
Three years on since suffering the ‘twisties’ that forced her to withdraw from multiple finals at the Tokyo Games, the four-time Olympic champion produced a peerless performance in the women’s all-around qualifying and delighted a packed-out arena with her new signature ‘Biles II’ move – a triple-twisting double somersault – on the vault.
And she did so wearing something a little bit special. As the eyes of the world descended upon her with hundreds of cameras trailing her every move inside the Bercy Arena, Biles looked as though she had never been away. Sporting a glittering dark leotard featuring 10,000 Swarovski crystals, Biles produced the first raucous eruption from the crowd of the day when she walked out into the arena alongside her Team USA team-mates in leotards costing an estimated ￡2,333 each. Along with the many thousands of crystals adorning their outfits – some of which have been stitched in by hand – Swarovski pearls also feature on each of the USA’s leotards as a tribute to the host city of Paris.
With each of the five gymnasts given eight leotards each, the total cost of the crystal-encrusted American outfits cost just shy of ￡100,000.
Like her opulent outfit, Biles sparkled on a day when she twisted and spun her way to perfection. She struck a calm and composed figure as she serenely completed all of her routines, the only hiccup coming when she aggravated a calf niggle during a high-octane floor display, but she went on to execute her crowd-pleasing Biles II manoeuvre in an Olympic first.
A tense silence fell when she started on the beam, ironically the same apparatus where she returned in Tokyo to claim an emotion-fuelled bronze after her bout of twisties. In an extraordinary show of mental fortitude, she nailed the performance with laser precision, as the venue broke out in deafening applause.
The one blemish came after completing a masterful floor routine that featured one of the five skills named after her – a triple-twisting double somersault – when Biles appeared to take a breather as she sat down on the edge of the floor. It soon became apparent she had aggravated a minor calf injury and required strapping. Cecile Landi, the US team coach, later confirmed the issue had flared up during her recent floor warm-ups but stressed there had been no discussion about her withdrawing from the competition, or watering down her planned skills.
Even if Biles was in some discomfort, she hardly showed it. She is a champion competitor who has matured emotionally, mentally and physically since her tumultuous time in Tokyo. If anything, she is better than she has ever been. She was widely expected to perform the Biles II on the vault – she was seen rehearsing the move during a practice session last Thursday – and she duly executed the manoeuvre with aplomb. The move is a Yurchenko-style vault with two flips in a pike position and, with a difficulty rating of 6.4, is notoriously difficult to pull off cleanly. You could have heard a pin drop as Biles rounded off onto the springboard and with a half-turn flew through the air, before a double-twisting somersault in a piked position. The crowd had just witnessed history and there could be more in store.
There had been speculation over whether Biles would perform a new skill on the uneven bars that she has been planning, which would, remarkably, be the sixth named in her honour. In a sign that she is saving her best for Wednesday’s all-round final, she decided not to attempt it, but was visibly happy with her score of 14.433 on the apparatus.
As she stepped off the mat her steely focus melted away and she enthusiastically waved to the crowd, with singer Ariana Grande, rapper Snoop Dogg and actor Tom Cruise among the celebrities watching on as a scrum of photographers ferociously snapped away beneath them. This icon of the sport is back.
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