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How Simone Biles further cemented her legacy with Olympic brilliance

How Simone Biles further cemented her legacy with Olympic brilliance

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, while also personifying the trials and tribulations of pursuing greatness by adding four more medals – three gold – to her legacy over the last eight days. 

Whether or not Biles intends to compete on the Olympic stage for a fourth time in 2028 in Los Angeles is yet to be seen, 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. 

After dominating early on in the games, Monday saw Biles stumble to the finish line a bit. 

The 4-foot-8 tumbler 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 Larisa Latynina of Russia’s all-time Olympic gold medal record by a female American gymnast in these games.

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. 

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China’s Zhou Yaqin captured silver (14.366), while Italy’s Manila Esposito earned bronze (14.000).

Biles was the fourth gymnast to fall off the beam in the event 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. 

Despite experiencing some issues during warmups, Biles posted a score of 14.133 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 had been on her heels in all 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.” 

American Jordan Chiles came off the floor to a sixth-place finish before Team USA put in an inquiry to rectify her score, which was approved and pushed the 23-year-old onto the podium for a bronze medal. 

Having the lead of her routine reevaluated from a C-start value to a D, Chiles went from 13.666 to a 13.766. 

As the score was reviewed, Romania’s Ana Barbosu began to celebrate what she thought was her bronze medal by holding her country’s flag up high. Looking up in disbelief, Barbosu dropped her flag when she realized Chiles had surpassed her after the score change. 

Chiles, Biles and members of Team USA jumped and shouted with glee. It was Chiles’ first individual medal of her Olympic career. 

“This is just a dream come true,” Chiles said on the Peacock broadcast. “It’s my first time ever in an event final. Like we said, it was a redemption tour and I just wanted to come out and do the best that I could. So this medal means everything. 

“First event final, first event medal. Oh my gosh, I have no words, but I’m very proud of myself.”

Both Biles and Chiles got on one knee and hailed Andrade during the medal awarding ceremony, a well-deserved moment for the most decorated Brazilian Olympian of all time. 

Still, 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.

What do you think?

Written by Mollie Walker

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