Simone Biles pushes U.S. team to make gymnastics history, then makes some of her own

ANTWERP, Belgium — Simone Biles gave herself a heck of an anniversary present.

Ten years to the day she won her very first medal at the world championships, Biles led the U.S. women to a record seventh consecutive team title at worlds. Joined Vitaly Scherbo as the most-decorated gymnast, too, with her 33^rd medal at the world championships and Olympics.

“I think each and every time you are crowned a world champion, it feels a little bit different,” Biles said afterward. “I mean, I’m still surprised I’m still going. I’m 26, I’m a little bit older. It feels just as good as the first one just because we broke records, we came together, we had fight.

“It’s different, but it’s exciting.”

This is Biles’ first world championships since 2019, and only her fourth meet since the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, and boy, did the Americans need her. Joscelyn Roberson, who trains with Biles at the World Champions Centre and is the only American making her debut here, injured her ankle during warm-ups and had to be subbed out on both vault and floor exercise.

That lowered the U.S. women’s scoring potential by 1.4 points, a not-insignificant margin. The Americans also had to count a fall by Leanne Wong on balance beam.

“Today wasn’t Team USA’s best,” acknowledged Shilese Jones, who posted the fourth-highest all-around score. “But Team USA came together and did what we needed to do tonight.”

And Biles made sure the Americans were never in any real danger of losing.

She had the second-highest scores on vault and balance beam, and was fourth on uneven bars, her “weakest” event. After she stuck her bars dismount, not wiggling in the slightest, Biles grinned and appeared to say, “Whoo!” as she slapped hands with coach Laurent Landi.

It was on floor exercise where Biles really shined, however, doing one of her best-ever floor routines. She got so much height on her Biles I — a double layout with a half-twist — that people in the lower rows had to look up to see her. Yet she stuck the landing of it as if she had super glue on her feet.

By the time Biles finished, the crowd was on its feet and her U.S. teammates were jumping up and down.

Her score, a 15.166, was the only one above 15 the entire night, and gave the U.S. women a total of 167.729. That was more than two points ahead of Brazil, which won its first team medal. France got a boost of momentum going into next summer’s Paris Olympics with the bronze, its first medal at the world championships since 1950.

The Americans have now won every team title going back to 2011. This one broke a tie with the Chinese men, who won six in a row from 2003 to 2014.

“This team that we have had the most grit, courage and fight, especially after everything that transpired out on the floor. You had Josc go down and had somebody step up to the plate,” Biles said. “We had so many different emotions going throughout the day. It wasn’t Team USA’s best day, so I’m happy some of us have event finals to redeem that.

“We still pulled it out,” she said. “I’m really, really proud of the team.”

Biles should be really proud of herself, too. She could easily have decided to retire after the Tokyo Olympics, where anxiety created by the expectations on her and the isolation of COVID restrictions brought on a case of “the twisties.” Unable to tell where she was in the air and not wanting to risk her health and safety, Biles withdrew from all but one final. She returned for the beam final and won a bronze medal.

Biles had nothing left to prove — except to herself. She returned for the U.S. Classic in early August, then won her record eighth U.S. title later that month. Now she’s back at worlds, looking as good, if not better, than she ever has.

“Staying at the top and just pushing day in and day out is harder because I am older, my body is tired,” Biles said. “Everybody’s like, 'Oh my gosh, she looks great.' And I’m like, 'I feel like I’m going to die sometimes!' "

Biles needs one more medal to break her tie with Scherbo and become the most-decorated gymnast of all time, and she has five more opportunities at these worlds alone. The all-around final is Friday, and she qualified for all four event finals.

“There’s no magic. She trains hard. She works really hard,” said Cecile Landi, Biles’ other coach. “I know she’s super-gifted, but she’s one of the hardest workers I’ve ever seen. … She does the numbers and will train until she knows it’s perfect. She doesn’t take mediocre work.

“She pushes herself to be better every time.”

Tin or aluminum are the traditional gifts for a 10^th anniversary. For Biles, gold will do just fine.

Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.