"Couldn't have asked for better Olympic Games, support system, teammates" - Simone Biles' parting words after ending Paris 2024 campaign with 4 medals

By Anirudh

Modified Aug 05, 2024 15:38 GMT

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Simone Biles' time at the 2024 Paris Olympics has come to an end. The American gymnast solidified her claim as the greatest athlete in her sport by winning three golds and one silver in the French capital.

She began her Paris campaign helping USA win the team gold medal on July 30. Later in the women's gymnastics all-around final, Biles, with a 59.131 overall score, bagged her sixth Olympic gold medal.

On Saturday (August 3), Biles, with the help of her signature Biles II vault, scored 15.300 to win the gold medal in the vault final. She returned to action on Monday in the balance beam final. However, she fell off the beam during her routine and failed to win a medal.

The 27-year-old bounced back immediately in the floor exercise final, scoring 14.133 to take home the silver medal. Speaking after the event, Biles said that she was proud to have had the chance to represent her country on the international stage once again.

"It means the world that I could come back out here and compete on an international stage again, representing my country. I couldn't have asked for a better Olympic Games, better support system, better teammates. So yeah. Thank you, Paris," she said.

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"Really weird and awkward" - Simone Biles on the atmosphere during the balance beam final

Simone Biles during the Women's Balance Beam Final at Bercy Arena - Getty Images

The only time Simones Biles stumbled, literally, at the Paris Olympics was during the balance beam final. She failed to land one of her jumps and fell off the beam, resulting in her finishing fifth with 13.100.

Biles later stated that the atmosphere inside the Bercy Arena was 'weird and awkward.' She said that performances are normally better in noisy surroundings and their requests to have music played inside the stadium were denied.

"Beam final is always the most stressful, but usually we have, like, music or background noise, whatever that may be. And honestly, we do better in environments when there's noise going on, because it feels most like practice. So today, like, you can hear some of the Android ringtones going off, the photo clickers, whatever that was, and so, you know, trying to stay in your zone. And then people start cheering, and then the shushing gets louder," she said.

"So really, they should be shushed because they're louder. I don't know. It was really weird and awkward. And we've asked several times if we can have some music or some background noise. So I am not really sure what happened there, but yeah, not our favorite. None of us liked it," she added.

That disappointment aside, Biles ends her Paris campaign as the most-decorated American gymnast at the Olympics, with 11 medals (including seven golds) to her name.