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Simone Biles, Shilese Jones, and Rebeca Andrade make history at the 2023 Gymnastics World Championships. For the first time in the all-around competition history, all three top podium finishers are athletes of African descent.
Biles, Jones, Andrade First Rotation
Starting on vault, Shilese Jones opened with a 14.233 and a small hop on her landing. Locked and loaded, Simone Biles, nicked named “The GOAT” for a reason, dialed in with an impressive 15.100. Rebeca Andrade, competing the same vault as Biles, put up a 14.700. After the first rotation, Biles was in first, Andrade in third, and Jones in fifth.
The uneven bars were not nice to athletes at this year’s World, with multiple athletes peeling off. However, Biles, Jones, and Andrade stayed on.
Jones glided gracefully through the air on the uneven bars with no visible mistakes, earning her a 14.633. Biles followed with only a slight bobble on her pirouette. She earns a 14.333. The long ten-minute wait didn’t rattle Andrade before mounting the bar. Andrade finished with a 14.500, higher than Simone and just behind Shilese Jones.
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Shilese and Simone One and Two by Third Rotation
On the third rotation, Simone took the lead, with Jones in second. She delivered a solid performance on the balance beam, dismounting two flicks to full-in — a nod to Dominique Dawes’s dismount during the ’90s. She scores 14.433.
During Andrade’s beam performance, she lost a few connection points. Nevertheless, she remained on the beam with no falls, keeping her in the top three. Andrade finished the balance beam with a 13.500. Jones delivered what may have been her best routine during the entire World competition, earning a 14.066.
Andrade gave the performance of her life on the floor exercise, one of her best events, ensuring a podium finish. Her floor score was 14.066.
Jones, under pressure for the US to go one and two in the All-Around, had a few small hops and but powered through a mistake during her middle tumbling pass. She persisted, earning a 13.400.
Nevertheless, it was The GOAT, Simone, who closed out the 2023 World Gymnastics Championships with an impressive 14.533, earning her the gold, her 34th world medal, and the most decorated gymnast out of both men’s and women’s gymnastics. Simone has six world championship titles.
Simone Biles 58.399, Rebeca Andrade 56.766, and Shilese Jones 56.332, made history as all three podium athletes are Black women. All three athletes earn their second world championship medal during this all-around competition.
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