Simone Biles cements herself as 'the greatest ever' after a dominant gold-medal performance

David Goldman/AP

US gymnast Simone Biles won the women's all-around gold medal in convincing fashion on Thursday, cementing her legacy as perhaps the best gymnast in the history of the sport.

This is Biles' second gold medal of the Rio Olympics, having already led Team USA to gold in the team all-around. She is expected to pick up three more golds later on, entering as the heavy favorite in the individual floor, vault, and balance-beam events.

Entering the games, Biles had already won the individual all-around in the past three world championships. Her gold medal on Thursday marked the 14th consecutive all-around final that Biles has won.

As NBC analyst Jonathan Horton put it, Biles stands as "the greatest ever."

In the all-around final on Thursday, Biles looked somewhat nervous in her early routines, needing a big step to land her vault. In something of a shock, after the vault and uneven bars, she trailed Russia's Aliya Mustafina by less than a point.

But during the latter two events, the balance beam and the floor routine, Biles looked like her old self, gliding through a tricky balance-beam routine and sticking the landing to take the lead. Then, on the floor, she posted a stunning score of 15.9 to officially put herself atop the podium.

Aly Raisman took home silver for Team USA.

Here are the final scores:

Biles is only 19 but already a US Olympic legend. If she can leave Rio with five golds, then it's hard to imagine anyone coming close to her level of dominance for quite a long time.