It was not a golden sweep for Simone Biles in Paris. Not even a medal sweep.
The superstar gymnast from Springs, Texas, still told a story of perseverance and restoration with her performance at the 2024 Olympic Games.
She also personified the trials and tribulations of pursuing greatness by adding four more medals — three gold — to her legacy over the last eight days.
It’s to be seen whether Biles intends to compete in a fourth Olympics, in 2028 in Los Angeles, but the 27-year-old did make a decisive statement when asked what there was left for her to do.
“Nothing, relax,” she quipped with a smile on Peacock’s broadcast after securing a silver medal in one of her final two events Monday to give her 11 on her career.
The 4-foot-8 tumbler — who had won the individual all-around title and helped the U.S. win the women’s team title at these Games — fell during her beam routine in her first event of the day to miss the podium for the first time at Bercy Arena.
Finishing with a score of 13.100, Biles lost out on her chance to tie Russian Larisa Latynina’s all-time Olympic gold medal record by a female gymnast.
Biles’ fall opened the door for Italy’s Alice D’Amato, who won her country’s first ever Olympic gold medal in women’s gymnastics with a score of 14.366.
Biles was the fourth gymnast to fall off the beam Monday, a trend that seemingly stressed each athlete as it happened more and more.
Fellow American Suni Lee, who was outspoken about her desire to win beam, also slipped off to relegate her to the same score as Biles to tie for fifth place.
“I’m so sad about my beam routine,” Lee said afterward. “But I gave it my all, so that’s OK.”
To cap her time in Paris, however, Biles bounced back to the podium with a silver-medal finish in the floor final.
These games appeared extra fulfilling after what happened last time in Tokyo in 2021.
“I accomplished way more than my wildest dreams, not just at this Olympics, but in the sport,” Biles told reporters in Paris. “So I can’t be mad at the performances. … Competing then walking away with four medals. I’m not mad about it.”
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A bout with the “twisties,” which causes a gymnast to lose their sense of where they are in the air, derailed Biles her previous time on an Olympic stage.
It then led to her taking a two-year hiatus from competitive gymnastics.
Despite experiencing some issues during warmups, Biles posted a score of 14.133 on the floor after landing out of bounds twice.
It wasn’t enough to beat out Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade, who tumbled to her first gold medal of the games — and second of her career — with a score of 14.166.
“I have so much respect for her,” Biles said of Andrade, who trailed her closely in all of the events until this one. “She always keeps me on my toes, so it’s always an honor every time I get to go compete with her.”
Both Biles and Jordan Chiles, who took the bronze after an appeal changed her score and moved her from sixth to third, got on one knee and hailed Andrade during the medal award ceremony, a well-deserved moment for the most decorated Brazilian Olympian of all time.
It was the third time in the last five Olympics that USA gymnastics finished with a double-digit medal total (10).
If this is the end of an era with Biles, the most decorated American gymnast has made a significant mark on the sport with 41 world and Olympic medals.
