PARIS — Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles knelt down and extended their arms over their heads. Turning to Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade as the 25-year-old climbed to the top of the Olympic podium, the Americans bowed toward the new Olympic floor champion.
“She’s queen,” Biles said.
On Monday, Biles was happy to pass her crown. The most decorated gymnast in history finished her Paris Games with uncharacteristic mistakes during the floor and balance beam event finals at Bercy Arena but celebrated Andrade as she soaked up the moment as a Brazilian hero.
Standing atop the podium, Andrade, who became the most decorated Brazilian Olympian, wiped tears from her eyes as Brazilian fans sang their national anthem aloud. Her clean floor routine edged out two two-footed out-of-bounds landings by Biles, who absorbed six-tenths in neutral deductions for the mistakes. Biles finished 0.033 points behind Andrade, who claimed the second Olympic gold medal of her career and her first Olympic victory over Biles.
U.S. gymnast Simone Biles finishes ahead of Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade in the individual vault to earn her third gold medal of the Paris Olympics.
“At the end of the day, whoever medaled medaled and that’s what’s so exciting because you just never know with gymnastics,” Biles said. “So I’m not very upset or anything about my performance at the Olympics. I’m actually very happy, proud and even more excited that it’s over.”
Chiles ended a tense and tiring Olympic artistic gymnastics competition on a high with her first individual Olympic medal. She took bronze on floor, scoring a 13.766 after an inquiry changed her score by one-tenth and moved her from fifth place to third. After her new score flashed on the screen, Chiles wept in her coach Cecile Landi’s arms. She was the one who suggested the surprise bowing gesture toward Andrade on the podium.
“Why don’t we just give her flowers,” Chiles said. “Not only has she given Simone her flowers, but a lot of us in the United States our flowers as well. So giving it back is what makes it so beautiful. I felt like it was needed.”
The moment of unity and levity put a joyful punctuation mark on a stressful final day of competition at Bercy Arena. Four of eight women — including Biles and U.S. teammate Suni Lee — fell during the beam event final. Six of eight men fell off the high bar.
Competing under deafening silence with no background music, the beam final was “odd,” Biles said, as she was lost for a better word. Gymnasts asked background music to be played during the event finals this week, said Landi, who also served as the U.S. head coach during the Olympics, but their request was not met. Without the usual sounds of thumping techno music behind her, Lee grew so self-conscious that she felt people could hear her breathing.
When gymnasts tried to cut the silence by cheering on their competitors during the beam final, the crowd shushed loudly. After Biles dismounted the beam, clearly frustrated with her performance after falling on the second element of a planned triple series, she asked Lee why the crowd was shushing her during her routine.
“We didn’t like that just because it’s just so silent in there,” Lee said. “I love hearing my teammates cheer for me.”
Simone Biles put on a diamond-encrusted goat necklace after winning Olympic gold, sparking interest in the Calabasas jeweler who created it.
Lee and Biles tried to hide their frustration on the sideline with giggles about how annoyed they were with the final circumstances, but Lee still mustered a genuine smile as she left the Olympics with three medals and six for her career.
“This Olympics, I’m really proud of the way that I was able to handle the pressure,” Lee said. “I mean, obviously not today, but every other day, I feel like I did pretty well. And all the medals means something super special to me.”
When asked of a possible Olympic return, Lee hedged and said she is just going to rest for now. Biles left the door open for an Olympic return after her vault final, saying, “Never say never” to competing in a home-country Games in 2028.
“But,” she added, “I am getting really old.”
Biles, who collected gold medals in the team competition, the all-around and vault with a silver on floor in Paris, is the first U.S. woman to compete in three consecutive Olympic Games since Dominique Dawes completed the triple in 2000. No American female gymnast has been to four Olympics. She is already the most decorated U.S. gymnast in Olympic history with 11 medals, which is tied for second all-time with Czechoslovakia’s Vera Caslavska.
“I’ve accomplished way more than my wildest dreams, not just at this Olympics, but in the sport,” Biles said. “So I can’t be mad at my performances. A couple years ago, I didn’t think I’d be back here at an Olympic Games competing and then walking away with four medals, I’m not mad about it.”
Seated next to her at the news conference, Chiles, Biles’ longtime training partner, added quietly, “I’m going to miss you, man.”
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