Simone Biles’ Olympic competition in Paris ended with a silver medal on the floor after what she said was an “absolutely wild” day.
Biles had already claimed three golds, having won the all around and vault titles, plus the team competition and was expected to conclude her campaign with success on the floor.
However, at a packed Bercy Arena, Biles twice stepped out of the floor area during her routine which proved costly as her score of 14.133 left her behind Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade who scored 14.166, with American Jordan Chiles taking third after successfully appealing her initial score.
Biles had earlier finished fifth in the balance beam final when a number of competitors fell, including her American compatriot Sunisa Lee, in what she described as an “odd final” with the crowd shushing those who were shouting encouragement during performances.
She said: “The beam final is always the most stressful, usually we have music or background noise, whatever that may be, and honestly we do better in environments when there’s noise going on because it feels the most like practice.
“Today you could hear the ringtones going off, the photo clickers, whatever that was and you’re trying to stay in your zone and then the people start cheering and the shushing gets louder so they should be shushed because they’re louder.
“I don’t know, it was really weird and awkward and we’d asked if we’ve could have some music or some background noise, so I’m not really sure what happened there. It’s not our favourite, none of us liked it.
“It was an odd beam final.”
Despite her beam disappointment and defeat at the hands of Andrade, Biles returns home happy with her performances in Paris.
After winning four golds in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, Biles claimed a bronze medal on the balance beam in Tokyo but then withdrew from her three other individual finals citing a mental block known in her sport as the ‘twisties’.
She said: “Today has been absolutely wild. I’ve been competing here for a week or so now, so obviously exhaustion sets in now but we still had to go out and compete one more time today and it’s such an honour to compete with these girls on the beam and floor.
“Obviously it wasn’t my best performances but on the day, whoever medalled medalled and that’s what is so exciting with gymnastics.
“I’m not upset about my performance or anything, I’m actually very happy, proud and even more excited that it’s over!
“I’ve accomplished way more than my wildest dreams, not just at this Olympics but in the sport – I can’t be mad at my performances.
“A couple of years ago I didn’t think I’d be back at an Olympic games so competing and walking away with four medals, I’m not mad about it, I’m pretty proud of myself and it’s always so exciting to compete.”
Biles has never hidden her admiration for rival Andrade and both she and Chiles bowed to the Brazilian during the medal ceremony.
She added: “I love Rebeca, she’s incredible. She’s so amazing, a queen, it was an all-black podium so that was super exciting for us and then Jordan said ‘shall we bow to her’ and I said ‘absolutely’ – that’s why we did.
“She’s so exciting to watch and it was the right thing to do.”
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