Gymnastics queen Simone Biles ended her Olympics on a disappointment: she “only” won silver on the floor after failing to place fifth on the beam on Monday.
After three gold medals in as many events, American Simone Biles showed on Monday that she too can fail. During the balance beam event, the world gymnastics superstar fell.
Wearing a blue and white leotard saturated with sequins, Biles waited for her score with a closed face before seeing the score of 13.100 appear on the screen, not enough to make it to the podium.
The Italian Alice D’Amato was crowned, with the American placing fifth.
On the floor, Biles then had to settle for silver, behind the Brazilian Rebeca Andrade. She was notably sanctioned for two mat exits, and therefore leaves Paris with 3 gold medals and 1 silver. Her list of achievements shows 7 Olympic titles since Rio in 2016.
“The day was absolutely crazy,” Biles said, adding that she was “very happy, proud and even more excited that it’s over.”
“I have accomplished more than my wildest dreams, not only during these Games, but also in gymnastics in general. So I can’t be upset with my performances,” she assured.
“The most important thing was the[le concours en] team and the individual medal in the all-around competition. After that it was just a bonus and I was starting to see that she was tired physically and especially mentally, it was starting to be hard,” explains her coach Laurent Landi.
Back
All eyes were on the 27-year-old whose abrupt withdrawal had shocked Tokyo 2021, where, with four titles won in Rio, she arrived as favourite.
But without a filter, the Texas-based gymnast then explained that she struggles with “twisties,” these sudden and unpredictable losses of bearings in space, which expose gymnasts to serious injuries.
Three years later in the Arena Bercy in Paris, the giant with five acrobatic figures bearing her name was acclaimed during training and given a standing ovation during the competition.
First crowned with gold in the team all-around competition, the 1.42 m gymnast won a second title in the main event, the individual all-around competition, then a third title in the vault, bringing her total of Olympic titles to seven.
The only small hitch in her Parisian gold medal haul, the gymnastics queen ended her Games on Monday without a new crown, having to settle for silver on the floor and an unusual fifth place on the beam. A result that prevents her from going after the record of titles held by Soviet gymnast Larissa Latynina (9 gold medals between 1956 and 1964).
But no matter. In Paris, she mainly defended her chances with her face regularly lit up with a broad smile, that of an athlete visibly happy to rediscover feelings of pleasure on the stage, freed from the pressure of the result.
“Two or three years ago I didn’t think I would be back here at the Games, so to compete and come away with four medals… I’m not upset, I’m actually proud of myself. It’s always very exciting to compete.”
Her setbacks in Japan had broken the taboo surrounding athletes’ mental health, and had forced her to step away from competitions for two years to “take care” of herself and heal even deeper wounds.
Her coach now advises her to live a little: “Have a child, enjoy yourself and live a little. Los Angeles? What for? That’s enough, 27 years is still very good. It’s her choice but with 41 world and Olympic medals, she can stop. That’s my personal opinion. It was a great moment and if now she wants to say “I’m stopping”, she can.”
Saved by her grandparents
Because the fairy tale of the little girl who discovers gymnastics at the age of six during a school trip is not one, Biles having had to overcome a multitude of trials during her life.
The American, born in Ohio, shared her early childhood with a mother “addicted to alcohol and drugs”, who was “in and out of prison”, which led to her and her three brothers and sisters being placed in foster care, she confided on American television in 2017.
“My grandparents saved me,” she says of Nellie and Ron Biles, who changed the course of her life by adopting her and her little sister, while the rest of the siblings were taken in by other family members.
At the age of eight, Biles had a decisive encounter with Aimee Boorman, the coach who would take her to the top, her “second mother” too, who would watch over her balance on the apparatus as in life.
It was under her wing that she became, at the age of 16, world champion for the first time, in 2013 in Antwerp. With her also that she triumphed at the Rio Olympic Games in 2016.
Boorman left for Florida, the adopted Texan returned to training in 2017 under the direction of Frenchmen Cécile and Laurent Landi in Houston.
“Much bigger”
In January 2018, she revealed another intimate wound: she was one of more than two hundred victims of Larry Nassar, the former doctor of the American team sentenced to life in prison for hundreds of sexual assaults.
“We have been let down and we are owed an explanation,” she testified, her voice breaking with emotion, in September 2021 before a Senate committee charged with examining the FBI’s “derelictions of duty” in this appalling scandal that is shaking America.
“I am much more than that,” the African-American athlete, who has also strongly supported the “Black Lives Matter” movement, says of the affair. “I am unique, intelligent, talented, motivated and passionate. I promised myself that my story would be much bigger than that.”
Biles has largely kept her word. In October 2023, she made a stunning comeback by winning five medals, including four gold, at the World Championships in Antwerp.
“She proves to everyone that she can be better than before. She is like wine, she improves with age!”, her coach Cécile Landi said happily before Paris-2024.
Biles agreed with him, and with a smile.