PARIS – The “Redemption Tour” did not end with a golden encore for Simone Biles.
By the time she entered Bercy Arena for the beam and floor exercise finals on Monday, she was drained. Mentally. Physically. All of it.
Recommended Videos
It's what this event does. What this sport does.
No one knows that better than the 27-year-old who has spent the last decade relentlessly propelling gymnastics — both competitively and culturally — forward.
So when Biles hopped off balance beam to miss out on one medal, then stepped out of bounds twice during her floor routine to finish second in her signature event for the first time in memory, she shrugged.
Gymnastics happens. Even to the greats. Even to the GOAT.
The woman who didn't think she'd even be here a couple of years ago will leave Paris — and perhaps her final Olympics — with three golds and a silver and something perhaps even more valuable: peace.
“I accomplished way more than my wildest dreams, not just at this Olympics, but in the sport,” the 11-time Olympic medalist said. “So I can’t be mad at the performances. ... Competing then walking away with four medals. I’m not mad about it.”
Biles certainly didn’t look mad during the awards ceremony after the floor exercise — the first one of her career at a major competition that ended with her looking up at someone else.
Instead, she and good friend and bronze medalist Jordan Chiles bowed to Rebeca Andrade, the Brazilian who has spent the last three years as the best gymnast in the world not named Biles.
“It was just the right thing to do,” Biles said. "She’s queen.”
Then the three Black women posed together on the podium four days after Biles, Andrade and Sunisa Lee, who is Hmong-American, stood in the same spot following the all-around. Their collective success is symbolic of a sport that is becoming more diverse and more inclusive at the highest level, led by someone who still describes herself as “Simone Biles from Spring, Texas who flips.”
For a long time, the flipping is what separated Biles from everyone else. Her routines are packed with so much difficultly that a wobble here or a step out of bounds there ultimately hasn't mattered.
It did in what could be the final routine of her career. Bothered perhaps by a left calf injury she aggravated during qualifying last week, Biles wasn’t at her best during a 75-second set that features music from pop icons Taylor Swift and Beyonce and the hardest tumbling passes ever done by a woman.
Twice at the end of the passes that feature elements bearing her name in the sport's Code of Points, her feet landed on blue boundary, costing her valuable tenths and creating just enough room for Andrade's score of 14.166 to stand.
When a 14.133 and the No. 2 — indicating she was still in second — flashed next to Biles' name, a packed arena that included NFL icon Tom Brady let out an “ooohhhhh” of surprise.
Biles was not one of them.
“I’m not very upset or anything about my performance at the Olympics,” she said. “I'm happy, proud and even more excited that it’s over.”
Whether it's fully over, she's not saying. Though Chiles may have offered a hint as they talked to reporters afterward, with Chiles leaning over and saying under her breath “I'm going to miss you man.”
So will gymnastics. The Olympics too.
Biles' 11 career medals at the Games (seven gold, two silver, two bronze) ties Czechoslovakia’s Vera Caslavska for the second-most by a female gymnast in Olympic history.
A chance at making it a dozen ended earlier Monday when Biles fell during the beam final, finishing fifth. She was hardly the only one. Four of the finalists came off during their routines, which were done in a quiet arena that is typically a wall of sound during competition.
Not this time after the International Gymnastics Federation had the in-house DJ hit pause during event finals, which Biles said made it “really weird and awkward."
The silence and intermittent shushing didn't bother Italy's Alice D'Amato, who finished off a breakout Games for the Italians — silver medalists in the team compeition — by putting together a steady set that seemed immune to the pressure or the moment. Zhou Yaqin of China earned silver with a 14.100, just ahead of bronze medalist Manila Esposito of Italy.
Biles praised D'Amato and Esposito for providing “building blocks" that she believes will help inspire young girls in Italy to take up the sport.
It's something Biles has done during her long stay in the spotlight. She's in no hurry to make any decision on if it's time to let someone else step forward.
She offered “never say never” when asked over the weekend if the Los Angeles Games in 2028 are a possibility.
She will be 31 then, an age when most gymnasts have long since retired. Yet considering the gap that still exists between herself and nearly everyone else in the sport — save for Andrade, who pushed Biles as hard as she’s been pushed — anything is possible.
That is for later. For now, there is merely appreciation. The critics that pounced after Tokyo have gone quiet. So have whatever inner demons remained.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better Olympic Games, a better support system,” she said. “Thank you Paris.”
__
AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games