2024 Paris Olympics Day 6 recap: Simone Biles wins all-around gold, Katie Ledecky makes history

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Day six of the Paris 2024 Olympics was a historic day for Katie Ledecky and the U.S. women’s fencing team. Thursday was also the farewell for a tennis great, the rise of a future star, a display of Olympic spirit for a struggling competitor and both continued greatness and a humiliating disappointment for American women’s basketball players.

Simone Biles takes gold in the all-around competition and Suni Lee takes bronze

It was another big day for the U.S. gymnastics team as Simone Biles continued her dominance in gymnastics with a gold medal win in the women’s all-around gymnastics competition and teammate Sunisa Lee took bronze.

The all-time best in gymnastics continued her historic streak, dominating the field on vault with a meet-high score of 15.766. Biles struggled a bit on bars, costing her some points for a mistake during her routine, but bounced back with a great routine on beam. Biles then finished with her signature event, floor, landing an explosive routine to win gold.

Brazilian Rebeca Andrade, who earned excellent scores in all four events, finished with her second consecutive silver medal in the all-around. Lee, meanwhile, took bronze after a slow start on vault that gave way to excellent scores on beam and floor and a particularly strong score on bars.

Biles’ return to the top of the podium eight years after her all-around gold in Rio marks the first time a gymnast has won two gold medals at non-consecutive Olympics. She is also only the third gymnast to win two all-around golds, and the first since 1968.

Biles, wearing a goat necklace, received her sixth Olympic gold medal on Thursday, making her the most decorated gymnast in U.S. Olympic history. She has a chance to compete for three more medals in the individual apparatus finals this weekend.

Katie Ledecky wins historic 13th medal on another intense day of swimming

On Thursday, Katie Ledecky won her 13th Olympic medal in the 4x200m freestyle relay, becoming the most decorated female Olympic swimmer and the most decorated American Olympian in history. Ledecky and the other members of the relay — Claire Weinstein, Paige Madden and Erin Gemmell — each won a silver medal in the race, losing to (who else?) Australia and Ariarne Titmus.

Another American, Reagan Smith, also took silver after being beaten by young Canadian Summer McIntosh. Although the United States has struggled to win as many gold medals in swimming in Paris as it would like, Kate Douglass gave the U.S. team the gold medal in the 200m breaststroke.

Overall, the first two-thirds of the competition has not lived up to American expectations. They have won plenty of medals (20 in all), but most of the athletes who have threatened to win gold have not made it to the top of the podium. A few (such as Torri Huske in the 100-meter freestyle, Nic Fink in the men’s 100-meter breaststroke or Luke Hobson in the men’s 200-meter freestyle) have exceeded expectations, but their medals have been silver or bronze.

U.S. women’s basketball team wins 57th consecutive Olympics

The U.S. women’s basketball team improved to 2-0 in Olympic group play with an 87-74 win over Belgium on Thursday. Breanna Stewart scored 26 points with seven rebounds, followed by A’ja Wilson’s 23 points, 13 rebounds and three steals to pace the U.S. team.

However, being on the bench may have been decisive in the game, as the U.S. team outscored Belgium’s reserves 31-11. Alyssa Thomas and Jewell Loyd each scored eight points off the bench.

Belgium gave the United States a tough match despite being a 23.5-point underdog, with Emma Meesseman leading Belgium with 24 points. The United States faces Germany in its final group stage match. The match will tip off on Saturday at 11:15 a.m. ET.

The uselessness of the United States in 3×3 basketball

The U.S. women’s 3×3 basketball team won one of its two games on Thursday, falling to Australia before beating Spain. Unfortunately, that victory didn’t go to either the U.S. women’s or men’s team in Paris.

The men’s team lost to Lithuania, which dropped its record to 0-4. And the outlook isn’t likely to improve, as Jimmer Fredette suffered a leg injury in the U.S.’s previous game against Poland that could have ended his Olympics.

The U.S. team’s ineptitude in 3-on-3 basketball is one of the great mysteries of the Paris Olympics. How can a country that dominates the traditional 5-on-5 be so bad at a half-court game that resembles the kind of playground ball that nearly every basketball player has competed in? Whether due to a lack of familiarity and talent or injuries, the poor results have been surprising.

Andy Murray says goodbye as tennis field narrows

With his defeat in the doubles against Americans Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul, the career of legendary English tennis player Andy Murray officially came to an end.

Murray, a three-time Grand Slam winner and world number one in men’s singles in 2016, was on the verge of retirement following the end of his Olympic career. He and doubles partner Daniel Evans advanced further than expected but ultimately fell to the American duo, who advanced to the semi-final.

After the defeat, Murray left with a bit of humor to end his career. “I never liked tennis anyway,” the 37-year-old wrote in a mail on X, which has 370,000 likes and counting. (Murray also changed the bio on her X profile from “I play tennis” to “I played tennis.”)

Murray’s exit came on another intense day of tennis, with world number one Iga Swiatek falling to China’s Zheng Qinwen in the Roland-Garros semi-finals. Meanwhile, Paul, who was the only American still in the singles competition, was beaten by men’s number one Carlos Alcaraz, hours before Paul joined Fritz in dispatching Murray.

Team USA Medals

Highlights of the day

It has already been said during these Paris Games that Canadian Summer McIntosh is the future of Olympic swimming. However, the future is already here, judging by the gold medal McIntosh won on Thursday in the women’s 200-meter butterfly.

It was exciting to see the 17-year-old phenom overcome American Regan Smith and Chinese Zhang Yufei.

One more thing …

Rapper and reality TV star Flavor Flav, who supports the U.S. women’s water polo team, is one of the curiosities of the 2024 Olympics. But he’s also part of what could be the most heartwarming story to come out of Paris.

American discus thrower Veronica Fraley shared a harsh reality for many Olympic athletes. Despite competing on a world stage and being among the best in their chosen sport, many competitors do not receive sufficient financial support. Fraley, who also competes at Vanderbilt, revealed that the compensation she receives as an NCAA athlete is not even enough to cover her rent.

A fan brought Fraley’s story to the attention of Flav and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, and the two pledged to help her.

Thanks to that fan’s outreach, millions of people learned about Fraley’s story and will surely follow her when she competes in Paris next week. More importantly, several benefactors made sure she didn’t have to worry about rent for at least a year.

While Fraley’s story may not be the Olympic dream, it is certainly a demonstration of the Olympic spirit that brings people together for a common cause to support the world’s greatest athletes.