Biles is leaving Paris with four new medals and a new title: most decorated U.S. gymnast in Olympic history
In what may very well be her final Olympics routine ever, Simone Biles went out in style at the 2024 Paris Olympics, taking home a silver medal in the women’s floor exercise final on Monday, Aug. 5.
The second place finish marked the first silver medal for Biles, 27, in Paris, and her 11th overall Olympic medal. Though her routine earned a high difficulty score of 6.9, several out-of-bounds stumbles led to a penalty of -0.6.
“Today has been absolutely wild… I’ve been out on that floor so many times competing, so obviously exhaustion and all of that sets in, but we still had to go out and compete one more time today,” Biles told reporters, including PEOPLE at a press conference afterward. “And it’s such an honor to compete with these girls on both the beam and on the floor.”
The star gymnast came runner-up to gold medalist Rebeca Andrade of Brazil, who scored 14.166. Biles’ Team USA teammate Jordan Chiles, 23, took home a bronze medal with a score of 13.766, and was overcome with emotion as her final score was announced.
Biles told reporters that her performance on the floor “obviously wasn’t my best,” but will leave Paris with her head held high.
“At the end of the day, whoever medaled, medaled, and that’s what’s so exciting, because you just never know with gymnastics,” she said. “I’m not very upset or anything about my performance at the Olympics. I’m actually very happy, proud and even more excited that it’s over, the stress of it.”
Chiles had initially been awarded a score of 13.666 by the judges, a fifth-place finish. But she challenged the difficultly score they gave her, and after a short review, her final score was upped by one-tenth of a point, boosting her to the podium. Chiles broke down in tears as Biles embraced her after the announcement.
Chiles told reporters at the press conference that she didn’t even realize at first that her coach had put in an inquiry, and was “very proud” of herself when it came through.
“It was my first event final and my first event medal, like, this is crazy,” she said. “It’s been a very long week, whether I was out in the competition for these past weeks or days, or not. So [I’m] just proud.”
Along with the many U.S. fans in the arena for Biles and Chiles, gold medalist Andrade had a strong contingent from Brazil cheering her on. The gymnast added to her medal haul in Paris, which included silver in the all-around and vault, and bronze in the team final. Andrade previously earned gold in the vault at the Tokyo Games and a silver in the all-around.
Earlier in the day, Biles struggled on the balance beam, placing fifth with a score of 13.100 after falling off the beam during her routine.
Paris had already been kind to Biles, who returned to form after the “twisties” forced her to bow out of the 2020 Tokyo Games three years ago. She and her U.S. teammates won the gold medal in the women’s team final on Aug. 1, and Biles also took home first place in the women’s all-around final and the women’s individual vault final.
After the team final, Biles became the most decorated U.S. gymnast in Olympic history with eight medals, surpassing Shannon Miller.
In a press conference after the vault final on Aug. 3, Biles confirmed she was done with the Yurchenko double pike vault — but played coy when it came to whether or not fans would see her at the Los Angeles Games in 2028.
“This is my last, definitely Yurchenko double pike [vault]. I mean I kind of nailed that one. So never say never,”she said. “The home Games — the next Olympics is at home, so you just never know. But I am getting really old.”
If Biles were to compete in the 2028 Games, she would be the only American gymnast to ever qualify for four Olympics. She would be 31 years old, which is significant considering she was already the oldest female gymnast to win all-around gold these Games in Paris. In fact, when she earned her spot for 2024, it made her the oldest female gymnast to qualify for Team USA since the 1950s.
The athlete told reporters that no matter what her Olympics future holds, her passion for gymnastics will remain.
“Once we’re out there, the floor is our stage, so it just feels so freeing for us because we’re in our element, we’re having fun, we’re doing what we love to do,” she said. “I think that’s why I enjoy it so much. But yeah, at a certain point as we get older it does get a little bit more scary and we’re more aware of what we’re doing … but always fun.”
To learn more about all the Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls, come to people.com to check out ongoing coverage before, during and after the games. And sign up for Going for Gold, our Olympics newsletter, to get the biggest stories from the Games delivered straight to your inbox. Watch the Paris Olympics and Paralympics, beginning July 26, on NBC and Peacock.
