Without a doubt, the GOAT

Three years ago in Tokyo, the women's gymnastics finals were deemed high demand events, which meant that as media members, we had to request tickets to attend the events. This is a common practice and to be honest, I have been kind of surprised that this year's events have not been deemed high-demand.

In Tokyo, I did request a ticket for the floor exercise and did so before Simone Biles had to withdraw from competition. My expectation was that I would get to see her in action, but obviously that changed. She did what she had to do for her own personal health and that should never be questioned. I was bummed to miss out on the chance to see the best gymnast of all time, but that's nothing to worry about.

This time around, I decided I wanted to try to see Simone in action for a first time and looking at the schedule, determined that the time to do so was tonight, Aug. 1, in the women's all-around competition. Since gymnastics were not considered a high demand event by the Paris organizers, I didn't need a ticket, but after going to see the men in team action a few nights earlier, I knew that it would be a good idea to get there early.

After checking out Roland Garros in the early afternoon (that was quite a place), I took a couple of trains to Bercy, and got to the arena about an hour and a half early. I made my way in and climbed up the media tribune, which was already filling up quickly. I found a spot near the top row and settled in to see the GOAT in action.

A bonus this time around was that in addition to Simone, the woman who won the all-around in Tokyo, Suni Lee, was also in the all-around again, which meant a double dose of American gymnastics greats in the same night.

Both American gymnasts were in the same rotation, so it made it much easier to follow them around the floor, where all four disciplines were happening at the same time. They started on vault and Biles had the lead after the first rotation. From vault it was on to uneven bars for the Americans and after two rotations, Biles slipped to third, with Rebeca Andrade of Brazil taking the lead and Lee moved up to fifth place with a stellar bars routine. Balance beam was next up and Biles took the lead right back and Lee moved up again, this time placing fourth heading to the final rotation, floor exercise. And Simone was on her game, easily wrapping up the gold medal while Lee had a great routine as well and finished in third place.

So yeah, after missing out on the GOAT of gymnastics in Tokyo, it was worth the wait.


Prior to the start of the women's gymnastics all-around, Bercy Arena was pretty quiet. By the end of the night, it was rocking.

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