Resurgent Simone Biles faces Olympic challenge from Rebeca Andrade

IIn the aftermath of her nightmarish second Olympic experience, Simone Biles wanted nothing more than to go home. But even after leaving Tokyo, Biles had to follow her teammates to New York and wade through countless embarrassing talk show appearances and photo ops. Then came a parade in her hometown of Houston. Every time the cameras were on her, she plastered a fake smile on her face. When she finally got home, she was crying.

Biles has worked so hard to get back to the top of her sport after the events of Tokyo 2020. She took a year off from gymnastics, spent hours in therapy to fully understand the root causes of her mental illness, and reimagined her relationship with her sport. Now, she says, she’s performing for herself.

Last October, Biles opened a new chapter in her career with an incredible comeback performance, winning four gold medals and one silver at the world championships. She didn’t come back slowly; from the start, although regaining full confidence in her gymnastics after her Twisties issues was an ongoing process, the 27-year-old performed tremendously well.

With another year of extra training under her belt and renewed confidence after Antwerp, Biles is even better. The American team is the big favorite for the team finals, and Biles starts the competition as favorite to win the all-around, vault and floor exercises. She can certainly win the title on the balance beam, as she did at last year’s World Championships, but there is little separating Biles, her teammate Sunisa Lee and Chinese gymnasts Qiu Qiyuan and Zhou Yaqin.

Biles may be the best gymnast in the world, but as Tokyo underscored, nothing is certain in this sport. That much was clear last year when, despite her victories, Biles was pushed like never before by Rebeca Andrade, a 25-year-old from Brazil who has followed up her breakthrough performance in Tokyo by establishing herself as an all-time great in her own right. As the all-around gold medalist at the 2022 world championships that Biles missed out on, Andrade is clearly the second-best gymnast in the world right now.

Rather than simply maintain her already stellar routines and her No. 2 position, Andrade made it clear Thursday that she’s here to fight for everything. Eight hours after Biles and Team USA completed their own subdivision, Andrade performed incredibly difficult, improved skills on all four apparatuses.

Her lofty ambitions were particularly underscored by the revelation that Andrade had submitted the triple-twisting Yurchenko vault, another notably difficult vault that has never been successfully performed by a female gymnast, as a potential new element. Although Andrade did not perform it during podium practice—she did, however, execute a magnificent Yurchenko vault with 2.5 twists—it could be an attempt to counter Biles’ Yurchenko Double Pike. While Biles remains the clear favorite in the all-around, vault and floor competitions, it seems clear that Andrade will be in the mix immediately if she doesn’t perform well.

In addition to the great fights between Biles and Andrade that are yet to come, the men’s all-around final will likely see a battle between Japan’s reigning champion Daiki Hashimoto and China’s Zhang Boheng. At 22 and 24 years old, they have both performed at a stunning level in the all-around over the past two years and appear to be building an era-defining rivalry.

Britain’s Max Whitlock returns to his fourth Olympic Games in search of more history at the age of 31. Having already won three Olympic gold medals in total, Whitlock is aiming for a third consecutive pommel horse title. He will face considerable pressure from Rhys McClenaghan, the prodigious Irish gymnast who has now won the last two world championships on the apparatus.

Less than a year after becoming world champion on vault, Jake Jarman will be one of the favourites for gold on vault and is also in contention for medals on floor exercise. The British men’s team of Whitlock, Jarman, Joe Fraser, Harry Hepworth and Luke Whitehouse have also been lifted by the return of Fraser from injury. They are likely to challenge the United States for a medal, while Japan and China are currently favourites to challenge for gold.

The build-up to the Olympics has been brutal for the British women’s team, however, with Jessica Gadirova, Ondine Achampong and Jennifer Gadirova all sidelined by injury but contributing to Olympic and world team medals over the past three years. It’s a testament to the depth of the team that Becky Downie, Alice Kinsella, Ruby Evans, Georgia-Mae Fenton and Abigail Martin can be competitive when they perform well. Yet there’s no room for error.