U.S. gymnast Simone Biles' latest gold medal performance was more than just an impressive athletic performance to Bishop Robert Barron. It was a "sacred" display of athletic beauty.
Biles solidified herself as the greatest U.S. female gymnast in history with her gold medal in the all-around competition at the Paris Olympic Games on Thursday.
Barron, the head of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester in Minnesota and a widely followed Catholic influencer, said Biles' display of grace and athleticism reminded him of NBA great Michael Jordan's heyday.
"It was amazing watching Simone Biles last night and her marvelous performance," he told Fox News Digital. "And she is the GOAT. I mean, she's the greatest of all time. And it reminded me of watching Michael Jordan when I was a younger guy, the greatest of all time, that there was just something qualitatively different about Jordan. You know, he was surrounded by great players, but then there was Jordan. He was something else. The same with Simone. She's with the greatest gymnasts in the world, but when she performed, it was at this pitch of excellence, you know?"
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Barron said her performance brought to mind the Olympics of ancient Greece and their celebration of athletic achievement, and added the beauty of sports was how excellence was sought for its own sake.
"I'm not watching Simone Biles to accomplish anything else," he said. "I'm just contemplating how beautiful that performance is. And I'll say, as a religious person, it's one of the ways that value shows itself in the world. There is something kind of sacred about it.
"And I use the word contemplation. That's what you do when you're at a baseball game. If you love baseball or you're watching the greatest of all time perform, you're just contemplating the beauty of this performance. And there's something mystical about that, something wonderful about it. And you see why the Olympics emerged long ago and why they still hold our attention today."
Biles' comeback follows a difficult journey at the 2021 Tokyo Games, where she famously withdrew from the all-around final after suffering a bad case of what's known as the "twisties." This year, she discussed the criticism and support she got over going public with her struggles and made a triumphant return to the sport's most important stage.
Her performance once again captivated Americans who were proud to see one of their own win gold.
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"That's why the beautiful is a uniting quality," Barron said. "And yes, at the Olympic Games, when all the nations of the world, at least in principle, come together, that's the purpose of it. That's the beauty of it. And it's just like a great work of art, a great religious celebration or this great athletic performance. They have that unifying effect."
Biles and her American teammate Suni Lee paraded around the American flag, beaming and waving to the crowd after Lee also got on the podium with a bronze in the all-around competition. The pair also helped lead the American team to a gold medal in Paris.
Biles still has a chance to add to her nine career Olympic medals with the floor exercise, balance beam and vault finals still to come.
Barron previously went viral for his commentary on the apparent mockery of the Last Supper in the opening ceremonies of the Paris Olympics, speaking about the profound significance of it to Christianity and why he was disappointed to see it seemingly depicted with drag queens.
