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Which gymnast earned the highest Olympic score in a single event?

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Simone Biles of Team United States performs a flip above the balance beam during the Women's Balance Beam Final at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. — gymnastics Simone Biles performing on the balance beam at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games (delayed until 2021). She won a bronze medal in the event.

Under the current scoring system implemented in 2006, the highest-ever Olympic score in a single event is 16.900, achieved by Nastia Liukin on the uneven bars during the team final at the 2008 Beijing Games.1

It is important to note that this record exists within the modern scoring framework, which replaced the previous system where a "perfect 10" was the maximum possible score. Under that earlier system, Nadia Comăneci famously became the first gymnast to earn a perfect 10.0 score at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.12