PARIS — Gymnastics saved the drama for the last day. Simone Biles failed to earn a gold medal, but her teammate Jordan Chiles earned a bronze after a judges inquiry into her difficulty score.
A fall on beam knocked Biles out of medal contention entirely and two step-outs on her floor exercises demoted Biles to silver behind Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade on floor. Biles had landed awkwardly in warmups on the floor, performing her Biles II tumbling pass. Though attended by team personnel, she seemed fine and stuck her first pass well. But she was clearly headed out of bounds on her second. She made the same mistake on her final move, the deductions resulting in a 14.133, just behind Andrade’s 14.166.
But Chiles, knocked out of a spot in the all-around by a two-limit per country rule despite finishing fourth overall, finally got her moment. Initially, she appeared to finish out of medal competition but her coaches submitted an inquiry about her D score. After review, the judges bumped her score from 13.666 to 13.766, moving her into the bronze medal position.
An overcome Chiles bent over in disbelief as Biles, one of her closest friends, came over to wrap her in a bear hug.
It was not a perfect finish for either Biles or the U.S., but the Americans still leave with eight medals in total, and four of the five women each won at least one individual medal to go with their team gold. Their performance serves as validation against the critics — including one former teammate — who questioned the merits of this roster. Injuries at trials opened the door for an essential redo from Tokyo, reuniting Biles, Chiles, Sunisa Lee and Jade Carey. Each arrived in Paris with their own demons to slay.
Lee is only 18 months removed from a debilitating kidney disease diagnosis; Chiles sought vindication after struggling to qualify in Tokyo; and Carey failed to make vault finals in 2020.
None, of course, carried a larger burden than Biles. Inarguably the greatest female gymnast in history, she arrived in Paris still dogged by questions about her decision to withdraw from competition in Tokyo. She has been nothing but dominant since returning to competition, continuing to win every all-around she’s entered and adding more difficulty to her already stacked routines. Yet until she vaulted in the team competition, some acted as if she had something to prove. “Yo, alleluia!” Chiles said after watching Biles stick the vault, acknowledging the elephant in the room.
The storybook finish would have Biles sweeping golds on every event in which she qualified, but the balance beam takes no prisoners. Biles joined two other women — including Lee — who fell off the beam entirely, along with three others who suffered major balance checks.
After falling on a flip layout, Biles stared intently at the scoreboard as Bercy Arena pumped dramatic music in to unnecessarily build the tension. Fans shouted “We love you Simone,’’ as the wait continued for what seemed like forever. Finally Biles’ score of 13.100 flashed, sliding her out of medal contention. Biles shrugged, her face grim with disappointment.
By day’s end — and the end of her third Olympics — that grimace was replaced with a grin. Biles took her floor mistakes in stride, going over to congratulate Andrade immediately.
Now comes the inevitable question: What’s next? She has not shut the door on Los Angeles in 2028, but she will be 31. When she won the all-around competition here, she became, at 27, the oldest woman to do so since 1952. Of equal importance — her coach, Cecile Landi, is leaving after the Olympics to become the head coach at Georgia. Her husband and Biles’ co-coach, Laurent Landi, will remain at Biles’ gym in Texas through 2025, while his daughter finishes high school, but then also will relocate to Athens.
For now, tea-leaf reading will have to do. It doesn’t sound like Biles is interested in answering the questions anytime soon. On X on Sunday, she tweeted, “you guys really gotta stop asking athletes what’s next after they win a medal at the Olympics,’’ adding, “let us soak up the moment we’ve worked our whole lives for.’’
(Top photo of Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles celebrating their floor exercise medals Monday: Jamie Squire / Getty Images)
