PARIS — Resplendent in blue, sparkling like the Nile on a spring evening, a powerful woman in full command of her grace and power and commitment, Simone Biles grabbed the chain around her neck, her work for the night completed. The chain was not chosen at random.
It was a goat. For the GOAT.
“Some people love it, and then some people hate it, so it’s like the best of both worlds,” Biles said after coming from behind to capture the women’s all-around gold medal here at Bercy Arena, becoming just the second woman to win two all-around golds at an Olympics, and the first to do so in non-consecutive Olympiads.
“I was like, OK, if it goes well, I’ll wear the goat necklace — I know people will go crazy over it,” Biles continued. “But at the end of the day, it is crazy that I am in the conversation of greatest of all athletes. Because I think I’m still just Simone from Spring, Texas, that loves to flip.”
That hasn’t been the case for so, so long, and certainly not now. Not after Biles’ return from the most public of collapses, in Tokyo in 2021, her mental health in tatters for a variety of reasons. Not after she publicly advocated for her recovery, and for the recovery of others who dealt not only with mental abuse, but sexual abuse as well. Not after she…
