Simone Biles Concludes Olympics With Silver on Floor

PARIS — The crowd at Bercy Arena seemed to rise as one when Simone Biles completed her floor exercise Monday, applauding not only her performance in the event and her stunning showing in Paris but the totality of her career, the most dominant by a women’s gymnast of all time.

In a stirring — and vindicating — coda to her Olympics, Biles won her fourth medal of the Games, a silver to go along with her three golds, in the team competition, the all-around and the vault. Rebeca Andrade of Brazil, who finished second to Biles in the all-around and vault, won gold with 14.166, edging out Biles (14.133) and Jordan Chiles of the United States (13.766), who won bronze after a few moments of confusion.

The judges raised Chiles’ score by one-tenth of a point after reviewing it, enough to push her into third from fifth place. Ana Barbosu of Romania, who thought she had won bronze, dropped to fourth, a painful moment for a Romanian program that has tried to rebuild after a poor decade in competition.

The judges’ decision had no bearing on Biles, whose return to the Olympics showcased a woman in full — defiant and bold. Three years ago in Tokyo, during the vault in the team final, Biles became disoriented in the air and afterward withdrew from all but the balance beam.

Even as encouragement poured in, Biles endured criticism from all corners of the internet. She was called a quitter, a loser and un-American.

Having regained her self-confidence, Biles reported to Paris in superb form, and she dominated the first week of competition. A few hours before competing on the floor Monday, Biles missed the podium in the balance beam final Monday because of a fall.

She is a stunning performer on the floor, where she seems to fly through the air, making gravity look like a mere suggestion. Biles nailed her triple-double — which she had fallen on in warm-ups — and then stepped out of bounds with both feet, a three-tenth deduction, on her second pass. She hit her third pass and then went out of bounds with both feet again on her fourth.

When Biles saw her score on the floor, she grimaced. The deductions for going out of bounds had cost her gold.

But they did not diminish her experience in Paris, where she reaffirmed her status as the best gymnast ever. Biles has won 11 Olympic medals, seven of them gold, and 41 total across the Olympics and world championships, 30 of them gold.

Every time Biles, 27, competes is a glimpse into greatness, and it is possible that these Olympics were her final appearance on the world stage. The prospect of a U.S. Olympics appeals to her — the 2028 Games will be held in Los Angeles — but she also knows how taxing another four years of training would be on her body and mind. Whether she submits to those demands is a decision for another day.

After events, fans often do not stick around for the medal ceremony, opting to beat the rush to the exits. But after the floor exercise Monday, the stands remained full, and the fans kept chanting, “USA! USA!” No one, it seemed, wanted to see Biles’ Olympics end.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times .