Simone Biles continued to add achievements to her illustrious career, winning more medals and shattering world records as the 2023 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships wrapped up in Antwerp, Belgium, on Sunday.
Overall, she won five medals — four gold and one silver — during the event, giving her 37 total between the World Championships and the Olympics since she began competing on the international stage in 2013 in Antwerp.
“Because 10 years ago, I won my first worlds. Now we’re back here,” she told the Associated Press after winning her sixth women’s individual all-around championship on Friday. “So it was emotional. It means everything to me, the fight, everything that I’ve put in to get back to this place, feel comfortable and confident enough to compete.”
Despite the successful performances, Biles, who was participating in her most significant competition since returning from a two-year break, said she was not concerned about winning medals during the event.
“I wasn’t too worried about medal count or medal color,” she told the media after the event. “I just wanted to go out there and do my routines again. It doesn’t matter if I am going to get up on the podium or not, that wasn’t something I cared about. I just wanted to compete confidently again, putting out scores for Team USA and see what happens.”
Biles helped the U.S. women’s team defend the gold in the team competition earlier in the week. The team claimed its seventh consecutive world championship. She then continued her run on Friday with her record-tying championship in the individual all-around competition, knocking off defending champion Rebeca Andrade of Brazil by 1.633 points.
Friday’s victory gave her 27 total medals in her career and set her up for more throughout the weekend.
Biles finished the weekend with gold medal performances in the floor exercise and balance beam on Sunday after reaching the championship round of all five individual competitions. The individual uneven bars competition was the only competition in which she did not medal, finishing fifth while teammate Shilese Jones took home the bronze.
Biles now has 22 career world championships, while the U.S. team won a collective seven medals at this year’s event as it prepares to compete in the Paris Olympics next summer.
