It’ll be a first-time Olympic occurrence on Thursday when U.S. gymnasts Simone Biles and Suni Lee, each of whom has already won an all-around gold medal, go head-to-head in the 2024 women’s all-around competition.
Biles was the all-around champion in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, while Lee succeeded her as No. 1 in the event at the 2020 Tokyo Games.
An American has won all-around gold at each of the last five Olympics, dating back to Carly Patterson at Athens in 2004. She was followed by Nastia Liukin at Beijing in 2008 and Gabby Douglas at London in 2012 before Biles and Lee took their turns.
Biles missed out on a chance to repeat in 2020 after a case of “twisties” prompted her to withdraw from several events.
Biles was the all-around leader after Sunday’s qualifying round in Paris with a combined score of 59.566 on the vault, floor, balance beam and uneven bars. Lee, meanwhile, took third with a 56.132. Brazil’s Rebecca Andrade was second Sunday at 57.700.
Andrade won silver behind Lee in the all-around event in Tokyo.
24 athletes from Sunday’s qualifying round moved on to Thursday’s event, though it’s not necessarily the top 24 scorers because each country is only allowed two participants. For example, U.S. gymnast Jordan Chiles was fourth in Sunday’s standings behind Biles, Andrade and Lee, but did not advance.
Biles arrives to Thursday’s competition having laid down Sunday’s top scores in both the vault (15.800) and floor exercise (14.600). Algeria’s Kaylia Nemour was first in the uneven bars (15.600) and China’s Yaqin Zhou (14.866) took first on the balance beam.
Biles was second among Sunday scorers on the balance beam and ninth on the uneven bars. No other athlete had single-digit qualifying finishes in all four events.
Biles, Andrade, Lee and three others will start on the vault, while the next six all-around qualifiers start on uneven bars. Nos. 13 to 18 start on the balance beam, and the final six start on the floor exercise.
The all-around final begins Thursday at 12:15 p.m. ET on NBC.
