Simone Biles has finished up her Paris campaign with silver, her 11th Olympic medal overall, after a routine that featured a perfectly ‘petty’ act towards judges who earlier felt disrespected by the American gymnastics superstar and penalised her.
Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade became the first gymnast to beat Biles in a floor final in a major international competition while American Jordan Chiles earned bronze following a successful protest.
The very last competitor, Chiles initially received a 13.666 from judges — but her coaches filed a secret inquiry on the difficulty component and, after some delay, her total was boosted by 0.1 to leap into third.
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Romania’s Ana Barbosu was forced off the podium as a result while her compatriot Sabrina Maneca-Voinea dropped from fourth to fifth.
Biles, 27 and 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.
Still, she boosted her medal haul in Paris to four — gold in the team, all-around and vault finals and a silver that came as a surprise in her signature event.
“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’ medal total (including seven gold, two silver, two bronze) ties Vera Caslavska for the second-most by a female gymnast in Olympic history.
The American missed a chance to add a fifth Paris medal earlier on Monday when she fell during the beam final, finishing fifth.
Biles also wore a deduction there when the judges ruled she had failed to properly salute them after her routine.
She did make an effort to salute but it was rather brief and perfunctory — and the judges seemed to decide it was insufficient and took three tenths off her score.
It had no impact on the medal standings, but Biles made a show of holding her salute for a sarcastically long time as she left the mat after her next routine in the floor final.
“Holding her salute until she walks off the podium, match the judges petty with petty,” one fan wrote.
Replying to that post, Biles’ NFL star husband Jonathan Owens mocked the judges: “Making sure they don’t miss it this time!!!!! I love you so much baby, so proud.”
Biles thudded to the mat during her floor warm-up and had the left calf she tweaked in qualifying last week re-wrapped before she competed in the final.
Her tumbling passes weren’t perfect 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.
Chiles and Biles bowed to Andrade on the podium in a show of their admiration.
“Why don’t we just give her flowers?” Chiles said of the gesture.
“Not only has she given Simone her flowers, but a lot of us in the United States, our flowers as well. So giving it back is what makes it so beautiful. I felt like it was needed.”
Chiles was only on the podium because her coaches had submitted an appeal on her behalf, which she did not know about.
She burst into her tears when she learned she would be on the podium.
A skill in her routine called a Gogean, a split leap with a 1.5-turn, was originally not credited by the judges.
Their score sheets are not made public, but the rationale is typically related to insufficient rotation.
Upon review, Chiles earned full credit for the leap and it was a medal-making difference.
“I have no words, but I’m so proud of myself. So losing my voice means everything, because it takes a while for me to do that,” she said.
Appealing a score is a risky business, which often results in an even lower score than before.
The gymnast’s federation must pay a fee and file the inquiry to the judges promptly.
“You can go either way, go up, go down. I was the first one to see because I was looking at the screen,” Chiles said.
– with NBC, AAP