Biles achieves ‘more than wildest dreams’ in Paris

Simone Biles says she has achieved more than her wildest dreams despite the errors in two finals on Monday that cost her the chance to add more Olympic gold medals to the three she had already won in Paris.

The 27-year-old American – who won team, all-around and vault gold – twice landed with both feet outside the area to take silver behind Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade on floor.

That came after she had fallen off the beam to finish fifth in what she called an “odd” final during which she was frustrated by “shushing” in the crowd.

Three years after pulling out of several events in Tokyo and wondering if she would ever compete again, the world’s most decorated gymnast now has 11 Olympic medals to add to her 30 World Championship ones.

“I’m not upset about my performance, I’m actually happy, proud and even more excited that it’s over, the stress of it,” Biles told a packed news conference.

“I’ve accomplished way more than my wildest dreams, not just at this Olympics but in the sport, so I can’t be mad at my performances.

“I’m pretty proud of myself and it’s always so exciting to compete.”

Andrade had the crowd at the Bercy Arena on its feet with her lively routine, setting an early mark as the second gymnast to go in the floor final.

Biles, who was frustrated with the crowd during the beam final, seemed to have shaken off her disappointment and made a brilliant start on floor with a powerful and perfectly landed triple twisting double somersault.

But such is the height and power she gets on her tumbles it can sometimes work against her. She landed with both feet outside the floor area twice, costing her 0.300 apiece, and scored 14.133 to sit 0.033 behind Andrade.

Usually, Biles’ difficulty level – which was a full mark higher than Andrade’s – can get her out of trouble if she has a messy landing – but these were too bad. One foot out of the area would only have been a 0.100 deduction.

Add into the mix that Andrade, 25, executed her routine almost flawlessly, there is no doubt that this was a well deserved gold for the Brazilian – a fact underlined by Biles and bronze medallist Jordan Chiles bowing to her on the podium.

“First, it was an all-black podium so that was super exciting for us but then Jordan was like ‘should we bow to her?’ and I was like ‘absolutely’,” Biles said. “She’s such an excitement to watch. It was just the right thing to do.”

After beating Andrade to the all-around title last week, Biles had praised her rival saying she was the only gymnast who had ever come close to her.

She was right, although this time she was beaten as Andrade completed her set of a medal of every colour in Paris after all-around silver and team bronze.

With her 11th Olympic gymnastics medal, Biles has drawn level with Czech Vera Caslavska in second on the women’s all-time list. The all-time leader is Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina with 18.

Biles’ day had not got off to the best start in a beam final during which she was among half of the eight gymnasts in the competition who fell off the 10cm wide apparatus in an event won by Italy’s Alice d’Amato.

She lost her balance at the end of an aerial series and at the conclusion of the routine looked unhappy with the crowd, speaking animatedly to her coach and her team-mate Sunisa Lee.

Shouts of “come on Simone” while she performed drew “shush” sounds from others in the audience and she later explained gymnasts usually prefer to have some sort of music or background noise, because those are the conditions they are used to in training.

“Beam final is always the most stressful,” Biles said.

“Today you could hear some of the Android ringtones going off, photo clickers, whatever that was and you try to stay in your zone, and then people start cheering and the shushing gets louder – but really they should be shushed because they’re louder.

“It was really weird and awkward and we’ve asked several times if we can have some music or some background noise but I’m not really sure what happened there. None of us liked it. It was an odd beam final.”

Lee, another of the four gymnasts to fall off the beam, said: “You could feel the tension in the room.

“The crowd shushing us for cheering. We didn’t like that as it was just so silent in there. I love hearing my team-mates cheer for me. Simone and I were both upset.”

It was a brilliant gold for Italy’s D’Amato, who won with 14.366. China’s Zhou Yaqin took silver with 14.100 and another Italian, Manila Esposito got the bronze with 14.000.

Biles leaves Paris with the medals she was expected to win in Tokyo.

After a sparkling Olympic debut at Rio 2016, when she won four golds, she had arrived in Japan hot favourite to add many more before the ‘twisties’ struck during the team final, causing her to sit out the rest of that event before pulling out of all her individual finals apart from beam, where she took an emotional bronze.

She has spoken in depth about the pressure she had been under going into Tokyo, her struggles without her family there, the “scars” of the “horrific abuse” by former USA team doctor Larry Nassar and the impact of the critics who called her a “quitter”.

And she has detailed just what it had taken to get her to Paris, where she has performed in front of a packed-out arena each time – and featuring A-listers to boot – with the camera lenses focused on her every move.

She returned to gymnastics last summer after a two-year break, focusing on her therapy sessions as much as her acrobatic skills. She has continued them more regularly in Paris before her events, normalising even more a conversation about mental health that she so dramatically opened up in Tokyo.

“It’s really important that we put our mental health first and then everything else will fall into place,” she said on Monday.

She came to Paris with her team taking off as much pressure as possible but from the moment she successfully landed her vault in the team final – without “flashbacks” to Tokyo – she has not looked back.

The team gold was “redemption”, the all-around gold was for herself and then after that she said it was about enjoying herself.

With that came a vault gold, a floor silver and a successful return to the top of her sport.

Biles has urged people in recent days to stop asking athletes “what next” after they win a medal, telling them in a social media post to “let us soak up the moment we’ve worked our whole lives for”.

She has not ruled out competing at her home Games in Los Angeles in 2028 but says she is “getting old” as she will be 31 by then.

Not that age has stood in her way in Paris, where she became the oldest gymnast to win the women’s all-around title in 72 years in a sport where the past 12 champions had been teenagers.

Retirement will be a question for another day.