Normally on this website, I try to go for the hard hitting analysis or attempt to highlight a compelling narrative that no one else is talking about. But when Simone Biles made her return to the sport at the 2023 U.S. Classics, it was hard to do that.

Yes, we saw Simone Biles dominate the All-Around winning by such a massive point total, the margin of victory between 1st and 2nd place was the same as 2nd place and 17th place in a competition featuring only 25 All-Arounders. But with Simone, we’ve seen that before.

We also saw Simone Biles have the highest score on 3 of 4 events while having “only” the 3rd highest score on the uneven bars which is famously her “weak” event. Or that during her four routines, Simone logged the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 10th highest scores of the entire competition. But again, we’ve already seen that before.

Yes, we saw Simone Biles enter the arena like a mother hen, followed by a busload of gymnasts from World Champions Centre (WCC), some youngsters ready to become fascinating gymnasts in their own right, others established veterans who have already been to the Olympics. But all connected by the same coach and club, and Simone’s willingness to bring them into her friendship circle and to make WCC a legacy gym that will continue to be a force long after she retires. But we’ve already seen that before.

Then Simone completed her famed Yurchenko Double Piked vault, but as was the case elsewhere, we’ve already seen that before.

And finally, when all was said and done, Simone gathered with the media where she was cracking funny jokes, giving witty lines, and providing new insights on what she’s been up to inside the gym these past couple of months. Meanwhile, the fans and media were so impressed by Simone’s performance, they started openly speculating if this was the strongest Simone has ever been at any point in her career. But as readers can see where this is going, we’ve already seen this before.

Make no mistake about it, what Simone Biles did on Saturday night was absolutely extraordinary. But because Biles has always been extraordinary, how do your write about her latest performance without repeating the same overused bylines and narratives that have been said so many times before? But how can I do that when this clearly was no ordinary competition in Simone’s career?

On paper, nothing about what Simone did last night was significantly different than what she has done in the past. But considering all that Simone has overcome in order to reach this point, the 2023 U.S. Classics was undoubtedly a watershed moment in her career. The start of a new chapter and the beginning of a new road that will take her to an even greater place than where she was before.

Simone Biles did exactly what she had done so many times before, and that was her real victory on Saturday night. Not the three gold medals she won or her absurd 5.000 margin of victory. Simone entered 2023 U.S. Classics and picked up right where she left off when she competed at 2021 U.S. Classics. Going as far as to win the same three gold medals on the same three events in both competitions.

Yes, there are exciting new data points to analyze such as how Simone Biles is starting to reach “Oksana Chusovitina territory” by being one of the greatest examples of longevity the sport has ever seen, at least amongst All-Around Champions. Simone Biles is on-track to match the longevity accomplishments of Svetlana Khorkina and Larissa Latynina. She could even outright beat Latynina for having the longest winning streak in the individual events out of any Olympic All-Around Champion.

If you think a comparison between Simone Biles and Oksana Chusovitina is out of place, consider this. At the 2023 U.S. Classics Simone Biles shared a rotation with Tiana Sumanasekera and Dulcy Caylor. When Simone Biles won her first All-Around title at the 2013 World Championships, Tiana was only six years old, as for Dulcy, she was five.

There are also compelling new narratives to explore beyond just the age data. Most notably, I am struck by the similarities between Tom Brady-2008 (NFL) and Simone Biles-2021. In 2008 Tom Brady suffered the most humiliating defeat in the Super Bowl up to that point in time, and followed it up by suffering dual ACL and MCL tears to his knee in his first game back. It was thought that this was the beginning of the end for Tom Brady, and within a few years his legendary career would be over.

Instead, Tom Brady would compete for another 14 years and the majority of his victories and stats actually post-date 2008, the year that was supposed to be the beginning of the end for his career. Tom Brady’s horrible bad luck in 2008 was in retrospect, the best thing that ever happened to him. The adversity Tom Brady overcame in 2008 rejuvenated him and brought newfound motivation to his career. Resulting in more wins even with the losses he took in 2008, as opposed to how he likely would have fared if those setbacks had never happened at all.

Ever since Simone Biles experienced the Twisties at the Olympics and rumors began that she was legitimately on the path towards a Paris-2024 comeback, my immediate thought was whether 2021 could do for Simone what 2008 did for the career of Tom Brady. That the 2021 Olympics would ultimately lead to newfound motivation and rejuvenation for Simone in the 2024 Olympic cycle. And like Tom Brady, could in retrospect become the best thing that ever happened to her as Simone finds new meaning in her career, and uses it to ultimately win more career medals or compete for a longer span of time than if things had gone as they were supposed to in 2021.

While I don’t expect Simone Biles to compete for another 14 years, there are no limits to what Simone Biles can do or accomplish in future years. Simone is a gymnast on a mission of vengeance as she seeks to resolve all the negative commentary levied against her in 2021, and silencing it by producing a string of victories. And she can continue to win for as long as she damn well pleases until all her critics have been thoroughly humiliated and Simone is satisfied enough with the size of her trophy case that the sting of the medals she didn’t win in Tokyo is gone.

But all of that is what’s to come. For now, there is nothing to analyze, newfound data points to crunch numbers on, or new narratives to explore. For now, all that matters is the train is back on track, the momentum hasn’t stopped, and Simone is back to her same old self.

That was Simone Biles’ real victory last night.