How many gold medals can Simone Biles win at Paris Olympics?

Simone Biles is returning for her third Olympics with the chance to add multiple medals to her impressive resume. She’s already the most-decorated American gymnast with 37 World Championship and Olympic medals, seven of them being Olympic medals. By adding at least one medal in Paris, Biles will become the most decorated American Olympic gymnast.

At 27, she’s the oldest woman to make the U.S. Olympic artistic gymnastics team since 1952. By earning one medal, Biles would become the oldest American woman to win an Olympic medal in gymnastics since 1948. Even as one of the older competitors in women’s gymnastics, Biles is looking stronger than ever, and she’s ready to redeem her Tokyo Olympics struggles.

Simone Biles is set to add more Olympic medals to her collection

There are six events in women’s artistic gymnastics: the team competition, all-around, balance beam, vault, floor exercise and uneven bars. Biles is likely to appear in the finals of the team competition, all-around, balance beam, vault and floor. This means that she could earn as many as five medals at the 2024 Olympics. How likely is it that they will be gold? Let’s take a look at the competition. 

The United States is heavily favored to win the team gold. The U.S. women most recently won gold at the 2023 World Championships. They earned silver at the 2020 Olympics behind the Russian Olympic Committee. With no Russia at the 2024 Olympics, the closest competition for the U.S. this time around will be Brazil, the reigning world silver medal team. France rounded out the top 3 at 2023 Worlds.

Biles’ medal count in Paris will also include her individual events. She won five medals at the 2016 Olympics and two medals at the 2020 Olympics. She has four Olympic gold medals, one silver, and two bronze.

While she is favored to win the all-around, floor and vault, Biles’ toughest competition for all three is Rebeca Andrade of Brazil. Andrade beat Biles on vault at the 2023 World Championships and is also the reigning Olympic gold medalist on the event. She has reportedly been working on a vault upgrade. Andrade is also the reigning Olympic and world silver medalist in the all-around and the reigning silver medalist on floor. Biles’ American teammate Suni Lee is the reigning Olympic all-around champion and could once again fight for a medal.

Outside of Andrade, Biles has more competition for vault and floor. Her teammate Jade Carey, the reigning Olympic champion on floor, is also favored to earn floor and vault medals at this Olympic Games. Yeo Seojeong of South Korea earned bronze on vault at the most recent Olympics and World Championships.

Biles is the reigning world champion on beam. She earned a bronze on beam in both of her Olympic experiences and could once again come away with a beam medal. Her stiffest competition should be Zhou Yaqin, reigning world silver medalist, and Qiu Qiyuan of China.

Beam can be very hit-or-miss for gymnasts, and Biles did not look her best on the apparatus at the U.S. Olympic Trials. With how deep Biles’ own team is, if she doesn’t have a strong day on beam during the team qualification, it’s possible she may not even make the beam final. Teammates Suni Lee and Hezly Rivera are also in the running to make the final, and there is a two-per country rule. Rivera beat both Biles and Lee on beam at the Olympic Trials.

The only event Biles where is not expected to medal is uneven bars. She is not favored to make the finals, although she does have an outside chance to be in that top 8. Biles does not have a weak event, as proven by her 2018 world silver medal on bars, but the apparatus she is least strong on is bars. The depth on uneven bars among gymnasts across the world is incredibly deep. With Shilese Jones not making the Olympic team due to injury, the only American who could realistically challenge for a bars medal is Suni Lee, who won bronze on bars at the 2020 Olympics.

Biles’ return to the Olympics is highly anticipated. She could come away with five new Olympic medals. Could all of them be gold? It's possible. The world will be watching as Simone Biles vies for more Olympic glory.