PARIS — American gymnast Simone Biles didn’t get the golden sendoff she sought.
Biles earned silver in the floor exercise finals on Monday — her fourth medal in Paris and 11th Olympic medal overall — after a routine that included a couple of costly steps out of bounds.
Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade became the first gymnast to beat Biles in a floor final in a major international competition, posting a score of 14.166 that finished just ahead of Biles at 14.133.
Jordan Chiles, a longtime friend and teammate of Biles, earned the bronze.
The 27-year-old Biles, considered the greatest in the history of the sport, wasn’t at her usual best during a routine set to music from pop icons Taylor Swift and Beyonce.
She’s going home with gold medals from the team, all-around and vault finals and a silver that came as a surprise in her signature event.
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“I can’t be more proud of how I’ve done,” Biles said. “I’m 27 years old walking away from this Games with four medals to add to my collection. Not mad about it.”
Biles’ overall medal total (including seven gold, two silver, two bronze) ties Czechoslovakia’s Vera Caslavska for the second-most by a female gymnast in Olympic history. She missed a chance to add a fifth Paris medal earlier Monday when she fell during the beam final, finishing fifth.
Though she can make it look easy at times, it is not. She thudded to the mat during her floor warm-up and had the balky left calf she tweaked in qualifying last week re-wrapped before she competed.
Her tumbling passes weren’t perfect — she stepped out of bounds twice — but her difficulty is usually so far above everyone else that it hardly matters.
Not this time. She received a 7.833 execution score that included 0.6 in deductions for stepping out of bounds, allowing Andrade to win her second Olympic gold
“I’ve accomplished way (more than I thought I would),” she said. “A couple years ago, I didn’t think I’d be back here.”
Biles’ routine ended with her blowing a kiss, a little wink that she has incorporated into her program in various forms for years.
Whether it served as a kiss goodbye remains anyone’s guess. She has stayed relatively quiet on what lies ahead for her beyond the Paris Games, though she did nudge the door open a little for a possible return when the Olympics shift to Los Angeles in 2028.
Her floor silver came about an hour after a beam final in which half of the eight women in the field found themselves hopping off in the middle of their routine after losing their balance.
Alice D’Amato of Italy took the gold on beam with a score of 14.366. Zhou Yaqin of China earned silver with a 14.100, just ahead of bronze medalist Manila Esposito of Italy. Italy, which won silver behind the U.S. in the team competition, had never medaled on beam before.
