TThe last day of gymnastics competition didn’t go exactly as Team USA’s gymnasts had hoped. With two North American women competing on the balance beam and two in the floor exercise finals, they were hoping for at least two medals, if not three or four.
But Simone Biles, who had performed clean routines throughout her four previous events in Paris – including a clutch program during qualifying – had an uncharacteristic fall from the beam. Teammate Sunisa Lee also crashed and the two finished fifth and sixth respectively. Italian Alice D’Amato won her country’s first medal in the event, after helping her team win their first medal, a silver, in the team competition.
Biles and Lee weren’t alone; half of the eight women in the beam final left the apparatus, reflecting the challenges of remaining in top physical and mental condition for eight days. Competing on the final day of gymnastics at the Olympics, Lee said, is “very difficult. I’m so tired, I was telling everyone today, ‘I don’t know if I can do this beam final.’”
Lee said the atmosphere in the packed arena during the beam competition was also unnerving. No music played over the building’s speakers, and the crowd of 10,000 was almost completely silent, to the point that when coaches and teammates tried to cheer on the gymnasts during their routines, the crowd silenced them. “It was a little too quiet [there],” Lee said afterward. “When I was there, I thought that people can probably hear me breathing and that just adds to the stress. And yes, you’re the only one up there, but that’s all [really] It makes you feel like you’re the only one up there.”
Biles said the gymnasts asked if music could be played, as they are more used to hearing noise than silence during competitions. “Honestly, we do better in environments where there is noise because it feels more like practice,” Biles said. “Today we could hear some Android ringtones playing and photo clicks. People started applauding, and then the silence became loud and really [the people shushing] should be silenced. It was strange and weird. None of us liked it.”
Biles had another chance to end the Paris Olympics with a bang, in the floor exercise final. She performed both of her namesake skills, but in her second and fourth runs, she went out of bounds, costing her 0.6 points, which placed her behind Brazil’s Rebecca Andrade. If she had stayed within limits, Biles’ score would have been enough for gold.
Longtime Team USA team member Jordan Chiles ended the floor exercise event and gymnastics competition in Paris as the last competitor. And she rose to the occasion. Continuing her solid gymnastics streak under pressure, Chiles was calm and collected as she performed a clean routine.
Then the drama began. Chiles’ initial score of 13.666 placed her in fifth place, but her difficulty score, which credits gymnasts for the skills they perform, was not calculated correctly. Her coaches submitted an investigation and the judges recognized the error, giving Chiles an additional 0.1 point, which was enough to place her in third place for bronze.
“Today was absolutely wild,” Biles said of the highs and lows of the final day.
That didn’t stop Biles and Chiles from honoring their fellow gymnast in the medal stand for the floor exercise. When Andrade was announced as the gold medalist, Biles and Chiles bowed to her, a recognition of Andrade’s achievements and her impact on the growth of the sport in Brazil, which won its first team medal in Paris.
“First, it was an all-black podium, which was very emotional for us,” Biles said. “But then Jordan said, ‘Should we bow down to her?’ And I said, ‘Absolutely.’ She is such an exciting gymnast to watch, and all the fans in the crowd [were] rooting for her. It was the right thing to do. She is a queen.
“She’s an icon, a legend, so why don’t we give her flowers,” Chiles said of her idea. “She not only gave Simone flowers, but [she has] for many of us in the US too. Giving back is what makes it so beautiful. We felt it was necessary.”
In some ways, the drama of the final day reflects the emotional highs and lows of the women’s team – each of whom overcame their own challenges to compete in Paris. Biles withdrew from the Tokyo Olympics three years ago when she suffered sprains, a condition partly related to stress, in which she lost her bearings in mid-air. “I never thought I would step on the gymnastics floor again,” she said in Paris after the all-around event. Lee was diagnosed with two kidney problems and was told she would never do gymnastics again, and Chiles was exhausted and ready to give up the sport when Biles convinced her to train with her in Houston at her family’s gym before the Tokyo Olympics.
“This was definitely a redemption tour,” Biles said of the four team members who were also part of the Tokyo team and wanted to improve on their silver medal in the team event from those Games. “We have nothing left; we did our job.”
Over the next three years, she shared more about the pressure she felt before the Tokyo Olympics and what role it may have played in cornering, a condition where her mind and body were not in sync and made everything dangerous. for her to spin in the air.
She also spoke about her commitment to weekly therapy sessions and conversations with her therapist that have continued remotely from Paris despite the time difference. Her decision to withdraw from the Tokyo Olympics now serves as an example for all athletes who may be afraid to prioritize their well-being, but Biles hopes that more people, besides athletes, hear the message. “I think putting mental health first and taking time for yourself, whether you play sports or not, creates longevity in sports but also a better, healthier lifestyle,” she said. “It’s important to put mental health first and then everything else will fall into place.”
This focus on the mental preparation and training necessary to compete at the elite level could be as important a legacy Biles leaves to the sport as her gymnastics accomplishments. The entire women’s team entered Paris with a different mindset than at previous Olympics. The word most of them gravitated toward was “fun.”
“I feel like I was able to really have fun – experience the [Olympic] Village, talking to other athletes because as a gymnast I don’t follow other sports,” Lee said. “So seeing everyone here and following them and seeing what they’re capable of doing has been really fun. It is much better [at this Olympics]; we can have so much more fun.”
Lee was unable to make the podium on beam after her foot slipped following her aerial series and she fell off the beam. She leaves Paris with three medals, bringing her total to six Olympic medals.
North American gymnasts leave Paris with 10 medals; the men won bronze in the team event, and Stephen Nedoroscik, who became famous as the pommel horse guy on social media, won bronze in the pommel horse event. Biles won three gold medals in Paris – in the team event, in the all-around competition and in the vault final – as well as a silver in the floor exercise. Lee won three medals – gold in the team event and bronze in the all-around final and uneven bars. Carey returns home with a gold in the team event and a bronze in the vault, while Chiles won the team gold and a bronze in the floor exercise.
With the upcoming Los Angeles Olympics, Biles would not commit to making a decision on whether she plans to train for other Games or not, but admitted “Never say never. The next Olympics will be at home, so you never know.” She also pleaded on social media for journalists to give the athletes some grace. “You guys really need to stop asking athletes what’s next after they win a medal at the Olympics,” she wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “Let’s seize the moment we’ve worked for all our lives.”
Biles certainly deserved it. But that won’t stop the world from thinking and waiting.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
