U.S. Women’s Gymnastics Team Makes History With World Championship Victory
Simone Biles and company slipped past Brazil and France to take the crown.
For the seventh world championship in a row, the women’s gymnastics team title belongs to the United States.
The Americans bested Brazil, France and five other nations to take the crown with a score of 167.729 at the FIG World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Wednesday afternoon in Antwerp, Belgium.
The U.S. team included the legendary Simone Biles, Skye Blakely, Shilese Jones, Joscelyn Roberson and Leanne Wong, with Kayla DiCello as an alternate. Brazil and France captured silver and bronze medals with scores of 165.530 and 164.064, respectively.
TV cameras captured the Americans’ outpouring of jubilation upon finding out they had won.
These reactions. ????
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) October 4, 2023
The moment the U.S. women's gymnastics found out they won a record 7th straight world team title. #Antwerp2023 pic.twitter.com/VG2eOl5T3m
With the gold medal, Biles is now the most decorated female gymnast of all time in the sport's two flagship events; she has won 26 world championship medals and seven Olympic medals, making for a total of 33 combined medals in the two international competitions.
The U.S. previously won the women’s all-around title in the 2011, ’14, ’15, ’18, ’19 and ’22 events, in addition to previous golds in 2003 and ’07. The team’s last non-first place finish was a silver at the 2010 event in Rotterdam, where Russia won gold.