Gymnastics | Simone Biles wins 11th medal

(Paris) Simone Biles may not have finished her Paris Olympics with a much-anticipated gold medal on floor exercise, but she still accomplished another remarkable feat to close out the artistic gymnastics program on Monday.

Biles won the silver medal in the floor final after making a few costly mistakes during her routine. Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade became the first gymnast from her country to triumph on floor in a major event after scoring 14.166 in the final. She edged out Biles at 14.133.

Meanwhile, American Jordan Chiles, a friend of Biles, won bronze.

Although she is no longer undefeated in the individual floor exercise, an unstoppable streak that began with her victory at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, Biles can say “mission accomplished.”

The woman who many consider the greatest gymnast in Olympic history was not at the top of her game during her routine to songs by American pop singers Taylor Swift and Beyoncé.

She still took her haul to four medals in Paris, including gold in the team competition, the all-around competition and the vaulting table, in addition to her silver medal in her specialty — the floor exercise.

The result still allowed her to join Czechoslovakia’s Vera Caslavska for the second-most medals by a gymnast at the Olympic Games (11), behind the 18 of legendary Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina.

This could be Biles’ final career Olympic competition. Biles has won 11 career medals at the Olympics, including seven gold.

Biles has remained tight-lipped about her future beyond the Paris Games, but she hasn’t completely ruled out a possible return to competition at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

“Never say never,” Biles said after winning her second Olympic vault title Saturday. “The next Olympics will be at home. You never know. I’m getting really old.”

Earlier Monday, Biles failed to medal on the balance beam.

The American gymnast slipped and fell off the apparatus at the end of her individual balance beam final routine at the Paris Olympics on Monday, preventing her from adding to her two bronze medals in the event from the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2021 Games.

Wearing a blue and white jumpsuit studded with more than 5,000 diamonds, Biles lost her footing more than halfway through her routine. The 27-year-old fell and landed on the mat, prompting a huge “oohhhh!” from thousands of spectators — including former NFL star quarterback Tom Brady — at the Bercy Arena.

Biles received a score of 13.100, tying for fourth with American teammate Sunisa Lee.

The wait was long before her score was announced. At one point, Biles looked up at the ceiling of the arena, knowing full well that her chances of reaching the podium had just gone.

Italy’s Alice D’Amato won the competition with 14.366 points. China’s Zhou Yaqin finished second with 14.100 points, followed by another Italian, Manila Esposito. Italy, which finished second to the United States in the team competition, had never medaled in the individual beam event before.

Biles finished fifth with Lee, whose gold medal hopes on the individual balance beam were dashed after she suffered a fall midway through her routine, much like Biles did a few minutes later.

Lee, 21, will nevertheless leave Paris with three medals, just months after her gymnastics career was nearly derailed by two chronic kidney conditions.

Zou Jingyuan defends his parallel bars title

On the men’s side, China’s Zou Jingyuan came close to perfection on Monday en route to defending his individual parallel bars title on the final day of the gymnastics programme at the Paris Games.

It was Zou’s third medal in the French capital, after he and his teammates finished second in the team event behind Japan. He also won silver on rings.

Zou, who is also a three-time world champion on parallel bars, finished ahead of Ukraine’s Illia Kovtun. Japan’s Shinnosuke Oka, the all-around champion, completed the podium.

Zou thus became the first male gymnast to defend his Olympic title on parallel bars since Japan’s Sawao Kato at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.

Oka concluded his Olympic adventure by winning gold on the high bar, his third at the Paris Olympics.

The former world junior champion, whose career was put on hold by a major knee injury two years ago, edged Colombian Angel Barajas in the final. The two athletes tied for first place at 14.533 points, but Oka was declared the winner because of his superior execution score.

The competition on the high bar was very close. Behind Oka and Barajas — who gave his country a first medal in gymnastics — China’s Zhang Boheng and Taiwan’s Tang Chia-Hung shared the bronze medal with a score of 13.966 points, and an identical score in the execution section.