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She is arguably the most dynamic gymnast of all time and is set to bring down the curtain on her glittering Olympic career in Tokyo.

Simone Biles may stand at only 4ft 8 tall, but the 24-year-old is one of world sport’s biggest stars.

She won four Olympic gold medals at Rio in 2016 in the team event, the individual all-around, the vault, and the floor exercise, as well as a bronze medal in the balance beam.

And in doing so, she set an American record for the most gold medals in women’s gymnastics at a single games.

The American won four gold medals at the last Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, taking victory in the individual all-around, floor and vault competitions, as well as earning gold as part of the triumphant USA team.

Widely regarded as one of the greatest gymnasts of all time, Biles has a remarkable 19 gold medals from five appearances at the World Championships, and four skills named after her – two on the floor, one on the balance beam and a double-twisting vault.

Biles is aiming to become the first woman to defend her all-around gold medal since 1968 in Japan, and is also regarded as the favourite to take victory in the vault, floor and balance beam at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre.

The USA are likely to defend their team competition crown, which will be Biles’ first chance at gold. The women’s team final is due to start at 11.45am BST on Tuesday 27 July.

Speaking to Women’s Health, the 23-year-old gold medal gymnast, who has won a total of 30 Olympic and World Championship medals for the US gymnastics team, explained that she doesn’t track calories or monitor what she eats in any particular way.

“I eat what I feel good with and try not to overeat or stuff myself because I’m always at the gym,” she said before expanding on why she chooses not to track her food.

“For gymnasts, in particular, [tracking] can lead to health problems and eating issues, so I just eat what I know I can and should,” she said.

For a pre-workout breakfast, Biles said she usually has a “quick bite” in the morning, either oatmeal or fruit.

First Lady Jill Biden spent her Saturday supporting Team USA, crisscrossing Tokyo to attend swimming, 3×3 basketball, and football.

Team USA swimmers greeted Dr Biden by chanting her name in the arena from across the pool.

She also spoke to the US women’s 3×3 basketball team, who beat France 17-10 and Mongolia 21-9 on the opening day of the new Olympic sport.

She then attended the US women’s football team’s 6-1 win against New Zealand.

The Americans made a forceful comeback after losing their first game to Sweden, 3-0.

British featherweight Karriss Artingstall made an encouraging start to her Olympic campaign with a comfortable opening victory over Keamogetse Kenosi but Peter McGrail was eliminated in his first round bout.

Macclesfield-born Artingstall, a gunner in the British Army and a bronze medallist at the 2019 World Championships, proved too classy for her Botswanan opponent, who struggled with her headguard on several occasions.

Artingstall was given the nod by all five judges in every round, with four scores of 30-27 and one of 30-26, as she eased into the last-16 of the 57kg category at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo

“It’s not my best performance at all, I wouldn’t even rate it over a six (out of 10), but I (have) just done what I had to do,” said Artingstall after she booked a second round clash against third seed Jucielen Romeu of Brazil.

“Seeds mean nothing to me, it’s just a number at the end of the day. I have never come across her myself so I don’t know what to expect. But as long as I am in there on my A game, I am a nightmare for anyone to beat.

“I’ll warm up throughout the tournament, and you’ll definitely see better performances from me.”

Kurt Walker overcame a cut to his right eyebrow in the corresponding men’s division following a savage left hook in the third round by Spain’s Jose Quiles, but the Irishman was awarded a unanimous decision win earlier on Saturday.

“I thought I had done enough. I was dominant in the first and third rounds. In the second he gave his all but then he had nothing left for the third,” said Walker. “I had to dig deep, but that’s a great first fight for me.”

Walker next faces top seed and reigning world champion Mirazizbek Mirzakhalilov of Uzbekistan.

“He’s got two arms and two legs like myself so it doesn’t bother me,” added Walker. “If you want to be the best then you have to beat the best. I’m fighting at the Olympics which is more than I thought I’d be doing last year, so I’m happy.”

However, British rival McGrail fell at the first hurdle, the Merseysider dropping a unanimous decision to veteran Thai Chatchai-Decha Butdee, who also competed at London 2012 and Rio 2016.

The Yates twins were Britain’s only finishers after Thomas and Tao Geoghegan Hart were caught in a crash around 70km into the race – with Geoghegan Hart losing his front wheel in a storm drain in the centre of the road to bring down Thomas behind him.

Thomas landed hard on his right side – having dislocated the same shoulder during the Tour de France – and knowing his race was effectively over the Welshman pulled out on their first passage of the finish line, still with 60km to go, to turn attention towards Wednesday’s time trial.

“I’m feeling beaten up but not too bad,” said Thomas – whose medal hopes in Rio were dashed by a late crash five years ago. “I’ve definitely felt worse. The muscles and everything went into spasm almost.

“It was a freak thing, Tao slipped on the metal ridge in the middle of the road and I had nowhere to go, I just went straight down.

“It’s disappointing after all the hard work and sacrifice, especially after the Tour and everything that happened there, but we live to fight another day and I’ll try to rest up now to give Wednesday one last go.”

Hege Riise praised Team GB’s unity after in-form striker Ellen White struck again to book their spot in the last eight at the Olympics.

The Manchester City striker grabbed her third goal in two games to seal a cagey 1-0 win over hosts Japan in Group E.

Team GB dominated the second half but were forced to be patient against an organised Japan team.

They sit top of Group E with six points, ahead of Canada who also beat Chile 2-1 on Saturday. Team GB play Canada for the right to finish top in Kashima on Tuesday.

Riise said: “In the first half, we didn’t look like ourselves, we didn’t have the speed of play we wanted. We came out as a different team with an attitude and togetherness and we all committed to the last 45 minutes.

“In the second half we changed formation a little bit and controlled it much better.

“We are all happy, it puts us in a good position and we’re able to rest players and recover well. The connections between the players will get better and better each game.

“We were surprised Japan made changes but they had momentum in the first half.”

Abigail Irozuru has credited her faith in God for ending her injury woes and wait for an Olympic debut.

The 31-year-old is preparing to make her Games bow in the long jump in Tokyo.

Her dream is nine years in the making after being left out in 2012, despite making the standard, before a ruptured Achilles forced her to miss Rio.

Irozuru retired after her injury before making the decision to return in 2019 with her faith helping her to reach Japan.

She said: “I do go to church and believe in God and genuinely had a conversation with God and I felt compelled to come back.

“I didn’t want to look back with regrets. I felt so tugged back into it but in my head I was like ‘there’s no way I can put myself through this, it’s torture.’

“In 2016 when I ruptured my Achilles, that was the second Olympic cycle I’d missed out on. I thought my dream was done but coming back a couple of years later, knowing it would be a fight, I just had to keep the faith.

“There are moments when I’ve had doubts, my capability and, particularly with the extra year, you question your age and ability to recover but I’ve been so thankful for the team I’ve had.”

“Obviously it’s the same for everyone and it’s something we’ve known coming into Tokyo, we expected that the conditions were going to be very tough, but before you come here and experience that you don’t really know how difficult it is.

“Today there was not much of a breeze. I felt like there was trapped hot air that was absorbed by the surface. It was tough, and probably tougher for the earlier matches. I at least had half of the match in shade so I could see the ball better and not feel dizzy on the court.

“I don’t really get why ITF doesn’t want to move the matches. This was the last centre court match and it was finished before 5pm.

“There is hopefully some kind of an understanding from ITF on what they’ve seen. All the athletes train and dream of being at an Olympic Games and then playing for half an hour and retiring, you don’t want to have the Olympic experience that way. But we have to accept whatever the circumstances are.”

17 more infections, including another Olympic village resident and an athlete staying elsewhere, taking the total to 127 since 1 July. In turn, the first inevitable cancellation arrived in the morning, with Czech Republic conceding to Japan in the women’s volleyball after Marketa Slutkova became the sixth positive in the Czech camp.

Gratefully, Covid wouldn’t stifle the other 22 sports hosted across the city on Saturday, not that it won’t give it a damn good go. For all the deserved criticism of the IOC, the relief that the athletes will now take over the narratives was not just theirs.

For years Max Whitlock sought to emulate his idol Kohei Uchimura by becoming Olympic all-around champion, so much so that the Japanese great admitted having logged into Whitlock’s live-streamed training sessions to keep an eye on his rising British rival.

The divergent paths the pair have followed since their respective successes in Rio in 2016 were emphasised in the Ariake Gymnastics Arena in Tokyo on Saturday, when Whitlock booked his place in another pommel final then looked on as Uchimura, on the opposite side of the arena, endured an anti-climactic final act.

The 32-year-old national hero Uchimura had dreamed of winning a third straight all-around title in front of his home fans. Instead, a series of injuries forced him to focus solely on the high bar, where, against an inappropriate backdrop of empty seats, a fall midway through his routine brought his campaign, and almost certainly his remarkable career, to a close.

“I don’t usually watch the other gymnasts but I couldn’t really not notice Kohei on the high bar,” said Whitlock, who also competed on high bar and parallel bars in order to ensure the four-man GB team – also comprising Joe Fraser, James Hall and Giarni Regini-Moran – safely qualified for the men’s team final.

“It’s a huge shame for him in his home country, especially because in the warm-up gym he has been looking amazing. It is so difficult coming out to do just one piece, and I’ve only just begun to realise that over the years as I’ve become more of a specialist myself.”

The Brooklyn Nets superstar will lead an extremely talented American side in Tokyo, but their rivals are now producing their own superstars and can lean on size to make life difficult for Gregg Popovich’s side.

In the past, the USA have always been able to rely on their superior talent to make up for a lack of cohesion, but the rest of the world have caught up amid basketball’s globalisation.