North American gymnast Simone Biles is expected to win her eighth Olympic medal – her fifth gold – on Tuesday, given the United States’ favoritism in the team event in Paris 2024 after a fiasco at the previous Games.
Biles seemed destined to break every Olympic record in the sport when she won five medals at Rio 2016 (four gold), but she slid to one silver and one bronze at Tokyo 2020, blaming the immense pressure on her and bringing the mental health of elite athletes to the forefront of the agenda.
Today, at 27, she could join the group of third gymnasts with the most Olympic titles, equaling the top five of Hungary’s Agnes Keleti, Russia’s Polina Astakhova and Romania’s Nadia Comaneci, and behind only Czech Vera Caslavska (seven) and Russia’s Larisa Latynina (nine).
If the United States can show only a fraction of the dominance it demonstrated in qualifying in the team final, Biles will easily win a fifth gold medal and can begin to reclaim in Paris the Olympic hegemony of women’s gymnastics that was lost in Tokyo.
Swimming finals will also continue to bring strong emotions to the Arena Paris, with the highlight being the women’s 100m backstroke, featuring North American Regan Smith a month after setting a world record, and the presentation of the world titles. Men’s 800m freestyle and 4x200m freestyle relay.
A total of 12 more gold medals will be awarded this Tuesday: in addition to gymnastics and swimming, new champions will be crowned in triathlon, shooting, table tennis, judo, fencing and rugby sevens.
The Olympic Games Paris 2024, the XXXIII largest sporting event in the world, will last until August 11 and Portugal will take part in them, representing 73 athletes, 37 women and 36 men, in 15 sports.