PARIS – The most precious Olympic gold medal of her life was a reward for a mind game Simone Biles refused to lose.

After working humbly and relentlessly for three years to get her mind right, the greatest victory of Biles’ career in gymnastics was defined by a riveting 74 seconds of intense pressure when a champion’s clear eyes and full heart proved to be unbeatable.

“Three years ago,” Biles admitted Thursday, “I never thought I would step on a gymnastics floor again.

A necklace adorned with a diamond-encrusted goat dangled beautifully from Biles’ neck in celebration of her come-from-behind victory over Rebeca Andrade of Brazil that earned her the biggest prize any American can win at the Summer Games:

The all-around championship in women’s gymnastics, capable of attracting more television viewers in the USA than the NBA Finals or NFL draft.

What made this gold medal, the sixth of Biles’ career, so special?

This competition was a fight to the finish, not a coronation.

“I don’t want to compete with Rebeca no more, I’m tired,” said Biles, giving props to her longtime rival from Brazil. “She had me on my toes … I was uncomfortable, guys. And I didn’t like that feeling. I was stressing.”

With Andrade oozing swagger and confidence, Biles was stuck in third place after completing two of the four skills that determine the all-around champ. In the comeback story that has become the most-compelling narrative for Americans watching the Games, it all came down to this make-or-break moment for Biles:

Four narrow inches on the balance beam. Three long years of rehabilitation. And nothing to rely on except the space between her ears.

How small was Biles’ margin for error?

Take a look at your iPhone. From top to bottom, it measures approximately four inches. That’s the width of a balance beam, on which Biles had to repeatedly stick perfect backflips to get back atop the leaderboard.

Despite busting out her signature move on the vault, a reverse double-pike that no woman before Biles dreamed possible, the 27-year-old U.S. gymnast was in trouble because she made a major mistake, nearly crashing and burning in an awkward transition on the uneven bars.

The error shook Biles’ confidence, down to her soul.

“I was probably praying to every single god that’s out there,” admitted Biles, who sat and meditated, trying to get her mind right.

And we all know that story.

Her meltdown at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, when an affliction that gymnasts curse as the “twisties” made it so hard for Biles to see straight the only sensible move was withdraw from the all-around competition to take a mental-health break.

“It was a mental injury, and that’s almost harder than physical,” Biles said.

More difficult because unlike a busted knee, there’s no precise timetable to heal an ailing psyche.

At 7 on the morning of this competition, Biles called her therapist.

But faced with the distinct possibility of Andrade taking the gold from her, the stress showed on Biles’ face with more intensity than longtime U.S. teammate Suni Lee had ever witnessed.

But as the first of the top competitors to work the balance beam, Biles attacked the situation with both the requisite calm and fearless aggression. It was 74 seconds of pure gold perfection. Every gravity-defying flip and circus-worthy spin was done without so much as a flinch or hint of self doubt.

And when Biles stuck the landing off the beam, making a rock-solid case for a score of 14.566 that put her back in first place, it was such a beautiful moment that nobody in a Bercy Arena crowd that included Kevin Durant and Martha Stewart clapped more enthusiastically than Andrade.

“I really believe GOAT Biles can catch a lob and finish,” Durant declared on social media, certain she can dunk.

And by the time Biles took the mat as the last competitor on this hot summer evening for her floor exercise, where she repeatedly demonstrates how a 4-foot-8 woman can soar above us all, it was apparent that the all-around championship belonged to her. With a total score of 59.131 she finished 1.119 points ahead of Andrade, in a showdown even closer than the score would indicate.

In celebration, Biles and Lee, who won bronze, danced together with a red, white and blue flag on a very good night for America.

Although she wore that sparkly GOAT necklace in victory, when the queen of gymnastics looks at herself in the mirror, she sees: “Simone Biles from Spring, Texas, who likes to flip.”

We tend to stand back in awe of athletic greatness as a mysterious gift from the gods.

But the greatest gift this regular gal from Spring, Texas, has earned?

The realization that forever golden memories are a product of all the small, important stuff.

Four inches. 74 seconds. And the space between her ears.