For just about her entire career, Simone Biles’ toughest competition in women’s gymnastics has been Simone Biles.
But in Thursday’s all-around final at Bercy Arena, she did not have the privilege of coasting to her sixth Olympic gold medal.
Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade forced Biles to “bring out the big guns,” she confessed after her win.
“I'm excited and proud to compete with [Andrade], but I don't like it no more," Biles told reporters with a laugh. "I mean, I'm getting uncomfortable, guys. I don’t like that feeling. I was stressing.”
Andrade kicked off the competition with a beautiful vault — and a rock-solid stick — that set the tone for the night. On the next apparatus, Biles set herself back on uneven bars with a transition error — one that she said she doesn’t think she’s ever made in competition.
Through two rotations, Biles found herself in an unfamiliar spot: third in the standings, 0.267 behind Andrade in first.
Of course, Biles pulled herself out of that hole (and then some) with a solid outing on beam followed by a showstopper on floor. As she stood up out of her final pose, the relief on her face was apparent.
"I don't want to compete with Rebeca no more. I'm tired," Biles said through a smile. "She's way too close. I've never had an athlete that close, so it definitely put me on my toes and it brought up the best athlete in myself."
"It was really cool knowing that I made her work, right?” Andrade said of Biles through a translator. "It's an honor to be able to compete next to her."
Fortunately for Biles, she probably won’t have to sweat it out against Andrade as often moving forward.
The 25-year-old Brazilian said that Thursday likely was her finale in the event:
“I think the all-around individual requires a lot from us — from my legs, my knees, the rest of my whole body, but the future belongs to God,” said the 25-year-old. “It depends on how I feel in the future, how my body feels, how I feel mentally. … I wanted today to be a special competition, and it was. I think this will be my goodbye to the individual all-around.”
Biles and Andrade will face off three more times in Paris in the vault, floor and beam event finals. They own the top two qualifying scores in vault and floor, and are in the top three for beam behind China’s Zhou Yaqin.
The individual vault final is Saturday, Aug. 3; the individual finals for beam and floor are Monday, Aug. 5.