Simone Biles is considered the greatest gymnast of all time, but she and teammate Jordan Chiles showed they may also be the GOATs at sportsmanship.
Biles finished second while Chiles came in third after Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade in the 2024 Olympics gymnastics floor final on Monday.
Although Biles narrowly lost the gold after stepping out of bounds several times during her routine, she and Chiles had no hard feelings and celebrated Andrade’s victory on the podium in memorable fashion.
At one point during the medal ceremony, Biles and Chiles dropped to their knees and honored their Brazilian counterpart with a “we’re not worthy” bow straight out of “Wayne’s World.”
Biles later said, per The Associated Press, the move was “was the right thing to do.”
“First, it was an all-Black podium, so that was super exciting for us,” she said. “But then Jordan was like, ‘Should we bow to her?’ And I was like, ‘Absolutely.’”
Gold medalist Rebeca Andrade (center) of Team Brazil, silver medalist Simone Biles (left) of Team United States and bronze medalist Jordan Chiles (right) of Team United States celebrate on the podium at the Artistic Gymnastics Women's Floor Exercise Medal Ceremony Aug. 5, 2024 in Paris.
It was a great moment for sports fans and for Andrade herself, who said, according to AP , “we can show the Black power.”
“I love myself, my skin color. But I’m also not focused on that,” said Andrade, who prior to Monday had earned two silver medals and one bronze at the Games. “Rebeca goes beyond her color. And the same goes for Jordan, for Simone. The idea is it serves as an incentive. Sometimes it may be more difficult for you because of you skin color. But you can do it, and we proved it’s possible.”
The Olympics social media team posted a photo of the trio, appropriately captioned, “This is everything.”
Many people and entities on social thought the photo and the sportsmanship it expressed made it an all-time great, including the Louvre museum.
Others also chimed in with support for the athletes’ heartfelt support for their fellow competitors.
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