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RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- U.S. star gymnast Simone Biles topped a field of 24 finalists in the all-around event of the women's gymnastics here on Thursday, winning her second Olympic gold without meeting any challenge.
The three-time all-around world champion took the gold medal with a total score of 62.198 points, followed by teammate Alexandra Raisman in 60.098. Russian Aliya Mustafina took the bronze in 58.665 points.
"I'm very excited and relieved, I've finally done it. You never know the feeling until it hits you," said Biles, who became the first reigning world champion in the women's individual all-around to claim the Olympic title in the same event since 1996, when Lilia Podkopayeva from Ukraine triumphed.
Coming to Rio with three all-around world champion titles in a row and a total of 10 gold medals from the World Championships, Biles was the odds-on favorite in many events at the 2016 Olympic Games.
Two days after the 19-year-old talent charged the U.S. team to defend their team title, Biles took the first place in the all-around soon after reaching a high score of 15.866 in vault.
Although Mustafina, the all-around bronze medalist at London Olympics took over with a strong performance in uneven bar, the American duo finally made one-two finish with their thrilling routines.
"I'm very happy that after four years, my result didn't get worse. I'm glad that I performed well and I'm happy with this day," said the 21-year-old Mustafina.
Biles still has big chances to win gold as she had also reached the finals of vault, balance beam and floor exercise all as the top qualifiers.
