AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Just over a week into the Olympics, the U.S. is leading all countries in the total number of medals won with more than 60. And for Team USA, it's been women who have dominated these games. They have significantly more medals than the men and more than double the golds, thanks in part to some all-time greats like Simone Biles and Katie Ledecky. NPR sports correspondent Becky Sullivan is there in Paris, beautiful Paris, and joins me now.
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RASCOE: Good morning.
BECKY SULLIVAN, BYLINE: Good morning, Ayesha.
RASCOE: (Laughter).
SULLIVAN: Good morning.
RASCOE: Let's start with the gymnast Simone Biles, the GOAT. She has now won three gold medals so far and has two events left to go.
SULLIVAN: That is right. She has been just tremendous here in Paris. So yesterday, that third gold - that came on the vault final. The vault - it's always been her best event all throughout her career.
And last night was special because over the past few years, she's been performing this incredibly difficult vault called a Yurchenko Double Pike. And the official name in the gymnastics world for this vault is the Biles II. It's named after her. It is currently the most difficult vault in women's gymnastics, and she had just started performing it a few years ago, but she didn't get to do it at the Olympics that year because of her issues with mental health that had caused her to withdraw from those games.
And so last night, she got to do it. It helped her win gold. And it may be the last time we ever see it performed in competition.
RASCOE: Wow. So Biles is 27 years old, which makes her older than almost all of her competitors. Like, how much does she have left in the tank?
SULLIVAN: You know, well, she does have two more events tomorrow - the balance beam final and then the floor exercise final - but that might be it. Tomorrow could be the last time that we see Simone Biles in the Olympics, and I can't overstate how big a deal it is because this is somebody that we're going to be seeing, like, carrying the torch, lighting the flame at future Olympics. So of course she's already starting to field questions about whether this is it, and so here's how she talked about it yesterday.
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SIMONE BILES: Not many people in the world can do it to this level. Once we're out here, the floor is our stage, so it just feels so freeing for us. And so I think that's why I enjoy it so much. But yeah, at a certain point, as we get older, it does get a little bit more scary, and we're more aware of what we're doing and what can happen, so our conscience (ph) is there, but - always fun.
SULLIVAN: So she's leaving the door open to continue this. You know, I think if the 2028 Olympics were somewhere far-flung, it might be easier to walk away, but they're in Los Angeles, at home in the United States. That would be a heck of a legacy to be part of, so we'll see.
RASCOE: Wow. So let's talk about another great U.S. female Olympian. Katie Ledecky won her ninth career gold medal last night with her win in the women's 800-meter freestyle. What was that race like?
SULLIVAN: Well, so Ledecky has won this particular Olympic event, the 800-meter, four times in a row now, dating all the way back to London in 2012. That is close to unheard of. It has only been done by seven people ever to win the same event four times.
And so, you know, she is also 27 years old. Ledecky is now the most decorated U.S. woman to compete in the Olympics ever. This particular race was an incredible test. She was challenged, like, stroke for stroke right to the end by Australia's star swimmer, Ariarne Titmus. Ledecky held on and won. That was the last race of these Olympics for her. She, in total, won two golds, a silver and a bronze and just reflected about her time here after the race.
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KATIE LEDECKY: I hope that I'll look back on it with the same amount of joy and happiness that I feel right now and that I feel every day in training and felt so much joy going out there and racing. And I think that's what I'm going to remember the most.
SULLIVAN: And in contrast to Biles, Ledecky says that she does definitively plan to compete again at the Los Angeles Summer Olympics. She'll be 31 then. So we'll have that to look forward to, too.
RASCOE: NPR's Becky Sullivan, thank you so much.
SULLIVAN: You're so welcome.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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