Simone Biles fulfills destiny, wins gymnastics all-around gold at Rio Olympics

She was the heavy favorite and did not disappoint in the women's gymnastics all-around

The 3-time individual all-around world champion Simone Biles came in as the heavy favorite to win the all-around at the 2016 Rio Olympics and the American star did not disappoint on Thursday with a gold medal winning performance.

Biles took the lead in her first rotation with a massive 15.866 and it appeared as though she would be on the way to a wire-to-wire dominant performance. Aliya Mustafina of Russia ensured that there was at least a little bit of intrigue by taking a slight lead over Biles (15.866 to 15.832) after the second rotation through the uneven bars, meaning Biles was facing pressure going into the balance beam, which always presents the possibility of disaster.

Biles was not phased by her second-place standing and drilled a 15.400 point performance on the balance beam, the highest of the day on beam, which put her more than 1.5 points clear of Mustafina and the field going into the floor routine.

The floor routine is where Biles, the best gymnast in the world in three apparatuses, is far and away the best in the world. After she got through a clean balance beam performance the discussion for the rest of the field turned to who could win the silver medal, and the only suspense surrounding Biles was how much she would win by.

Biles took to the floor as the final competitor, which was a fitting coronation for the best gymnast in the world and maybe ever. She didn't hold back or play it safe, knowing she only needed a 13.834 to win the gold over teammate Aly Raisman -- who came back for a silver with a huge floor routine of her own. Instead, Biles posted a ridiculous 15.933 on the floor exercise, the biggest score on floor by half a point -- also over Raisman -- to win the gold medal by 2.1 points.

That 2.1 point difference between Biles and Raisman was larger than the combined difference between first and second in the women's all-around competition from 1980 to 2012, according to Ben Cohen of the Wall Street Journal. Biles' dominance was on full display in the vault, balance beam and floor exercise and she even gave us a little bit of drama after falling ever-so-slightly behind halfway through the competition.

For Raisman, this was the culmination of four years of work to get the all-around Olympic medal that she missed out on due to tiebreaker rules that dropped her to fourth place behind Mustafina who earned the bronze in 2012. This time around, Raisman not only got a silver medal, but did so by leaping Mustafina in the final event with a terrific floor routine.

Gold medals were the expectation for Biles at the Rio Olympics. In the team competition, individual all-around and in three of the individual events still to come. Anything less would have been viewed as a letdown, but she has still found a way to put together awe inspiring performances despite those lofty expectations.

That's the definition of greatness, and in history of gymnastics there may be none greater than Simone Biles.