Suddenly, I Love Living Through History

Is this what patriotism feels like?? With another dominant floor routine, Simone Biles won her second individual all-around gold, while Suni Lee earned bronze.

By Kylie Cheung  |  August 1, 2024 | 4:15pm
Photo: Getty Images LatestOlympics Paris Olympics
Suddenly, I Love Living Through History

Just two days after taking home the gold in the team event final at the Paris Olympics, Simone Biles and Suni Lee competed in the individual women’s gymnastics all-around on Thursday and, wouldn’t ya know! Biles, who won gold in 2016 in Rio, and Lee, who won gold in Tokyo in 2021, both made it to the podium, with Biles (further) cementing her place as the GOAT by winning gold, and Lee taking the bronze. This marks the sixth consecutive Olympics where the U.S. has won gold in the individual all-around, in no small part thanks to these two. Biles is also the first American gymnast to win gold in the individual all-around final twice, and the third gymnast ever (after Larisa Latynina in 1956 and 1960, and Věra Čáslavská in 1964 and 1968) to do so.

Suddenly, I love living through history!

I can’t remember the last time we lived through a major historical event or unprecedented time that didn’t make me pray for an asteroid to hit Earth. But right now, the only asteroid I want hitting Earth is one with Biles and Lee’s faces on it! Is this what patriotism feels like???

With Thursday’s results, Biles now holds nine Olympic medals—the most in USA Gymnastics history. Teammate Jordan Chiles marked this milestone by immediately gifting Biles with this bright, glittery GOAT necklace after her victory. Biles now holds six gold Olympic medals and is also the first woman to win an individual Olympic gymnastics event twice in non-consecutive games. This is all pretty crazy considering she was “old” when she competed in Tokyo at 24. At the time, Biles, who had to withdraw from some events due to a mental health crisis, was subjected to truly awful vitriol. Alas, if ever there were even a shadow of a doubt that we’re witnessing the greatest of all time, Biles very much put that to bed on Thursday.

As for Lee, her victories this week come a little over a year after she was diagnosed with two kidney diseases which she hasn’t publicly specified, and was told she might never compete again. At one point in 2023, due to significant swelling in her hands, she couldn’t even hold onto the uneven bars—her best event. As a result, Lee retired from her college gymnastics career, but wrote in an Instagram post in April 2023, “I will not stop pursuing my dreams for a bid to Paris in 2024. In fact, this experience has sharpened my vision for the future.” I am wiping literal tears from my eyes.

And Team USA’s women’s gymnastics squad is nowhere near done competing, with the four individual event finals still remaining. On Saturday, Biles will return to compete alongside Jade Carey on the vault, and on Sunday, Lee will represent Team USA by herself in the uneven bars. Then, Biles and Lee will compete in the beam finals on Monday, while Biles and Chiles will compete in the floor finals, also on Monday. And I will be there (not in Paris, but probably on my couch or some bar) no matter what.

Even as Biles continues to make history seemingly as she breathes, as she told the media on Tuesday, she’s just taking things in stride: “I don’t keep count, I don’t keep stats. I just go out here and do what I’m supposed to and I’m doing what I love and enjoying it, so that’s really all that matters to me,” she said. “I don’t think I’ll truly understand the depth of it until I walk away from the sport.” Completely understandable, but as for the rest of us—trust, we are understanding the depth of the history-making brilliance we’re seeing right-fucking-now.

 
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