American gymnastics superstar Simone Biles capped off a redemptive campaign at the Paris Olympics with a silver medal on the floor exercise on Monday, avoiding a fall on the balance beam and finishing runner-up to Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade .
Biles entered the final day of competition with a chance to increase her Paris gold record to a record five at one Games.
She had already led the United States to team gold, reclaimed the all-around crown she first won as part of a four-gold haul in Rio in 2016 and moved up to gold on vault.
She failed to return to the top of the podium on Monday, but Biles said she would make Paris proud with all four medals that brought her career total to eleven.
“Today was absolutely wild,” Biles said, adding that she was “actually really happy and proud and even more excited that it’s over.”
“I have achieved so much more than my wildest dreams, not just at these Olympics, but also in sport,” said Biles, owner of a jaw-dropping 41 world and Olympic medals – 30 of them gold.
“So I can’t be mad at my performances,” she added. “A few years ago, I didn’t imagine I would be back here at the Olympic Games, so competing and coming away with four medals. I’m really proud of myself.”
Two off-field errors proved costly in Biles’ breathtaking final routine.
Andrade had already won first place with an energetic and elegant performance that totaled 14,166 points.
Biles earned 14.133 for silver, ahead of teammate Jordan Chiles, who took bronze with 13.766. Chiles’ score was improved following a review of its difficulty level, a devastating blow to Romanian Ana Barbosu, who thought she had won bronze with her score of 13.700.
Biles’ legion of fans gave a standing ovation anyway, and the American walked off the mat with both arms raised in recognition.
Her earlier fall from the beam – one of several in the final – was the first major setback of her triumphant Olympic return, three years after a series of disorienting “twists” cut short her Tokyo Games campaign.
Biles finished fifth on beam, where Alice D’Amato became the first Italian gymnast to win Olympic gold with a score of 14.366.
Teammate Manila Esposito joined D’Amato on the podium in third, with China’s Zhou Yuqin taking silver.
The treacherous nature of the 10cm wide beam became clear when the first three starters made big mistakes.
China’s world silver medalist Zhou lost her balance and had to hold on to the beam to avoid falling.
American medal contender Sunisa Lee suffered a hard fall on beam when her foot slipped at the end of an aerial series. Brazilian Julia Suarez also fell and Romanian Sabrina Maneca-Voinea fell twice.
D’Amato had a few small wobbles in an otherwise flawless routine to take first place just before Biles competed.
The American star, once again greeted enthusiastically by the celebrity-studded Bercy Arena crowd, started with confidence.
But she also escaped at the end of an aerial series, drawing a collective gasp from the crowd.
Biles said the lack of music during the broadcast routines — which made random crowd noises like phones and cameras more noticeable — created a “very strange and eerie” atmosphere.
“None of us liked it,” she said. “It was a strange final on the beam.”
Visibly disappointed, Biles had to wait a long time for her score of 13.100 to be published.
That wasn’t enough, and Biles’ chance to join Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina and U.S. swimmer Katie Ledecky as the only women to accumulate nine Olympic gold medals is gone — at least this year.
The 27-year-old has not ruled out a return for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.
Ok triple
Japan’s Shinnosuke Oka won his third gold of the Games, adding the gold horizontal bar to his team and overall titles.
In another apparatus final full of errors, Oka beat Colombian Angel Barajas, 17 years old.
They finished with the same score of 14.533, but 20-year-old Oka pocketed the gold thanks to a higher execution score.
There was nothing separating China’s Zhang Boheng and Taiwan’s Tang Chia-Hung, who shared the bronze with 13,966.
Oka added his fourth medal, bronze, in the parallel bars final won by current Chinese champion Zou Jingyuan.
Zou scored 16,200 points to retain the title he won in Tokyo in emphatic style, adding his team’s first gold in Paris and silver rings.
Ukrainian Illia Kovtun took silver with 15,500 points, ahead of Oka’s 15,300.
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