Simone Biles’ historic Olympic run came to an end — for now — Monday morning.
The greatest gymnast of all-time competed in two events on Monday to wrap up her Paris Olympics and added to her illustrious accomplishments. To start the day, Biles competed on beam. Of the eight competitors in the beam final, four fell off the beam — including Biles. As a result of her fall, Biles scored 13.100 and finished in fifth-place.
Biles then turned her attention to the floor exercise final. Only a few days after executing a brilliant routine to secure the gold medal for Team USA in the all-around, Biles had to settle for a silver medal after an uncharacteristically sloppy performance. Of course, a less-than-perfect performance from Biles is still elite.
Biles stepped out of bounds twice and received a 7.833 execution score that included 0.6 in deductions for stepping out of bounds. The legend received a score of 14.133. Her score fell just short of the 14.166 that Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade posted to win gold.
“I can’t be more proud of how I’ve done,” Biles said. “I’m 27 years old walking away from this Games with four medals to add to my collection. Not mad about it. I’ve accomplished way (more than I thought I would), a couple years ago, I didn’t think I’d be back here.”
Naturally, attention will turn to whether Biles will be back in 2028 to compete in the Los Angeles Olympics. Biles will be 31 by the time the Games arrive — an age that most gymnasts have been long retired — but she didn’t close the door on making a fourth appearance.
“Never say never. Next Olympics are at home. So you just never know. I am getting really old.”
“It means the world that I could come back out here and compete on an international stage again, representing my country,” Biles said. “I couldn’t have asked for a better Olympic Games, a better support system, better teammates. So yeah, thank you. Thank you. Paris.”
