Simone Biles missed out on a podium finish in the balance beam at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Monday after she did not salute the judges during the end of her performance. However, following this, in the next event, the gymnast cheekily saluted the judges until she walked off the podium, a move that delighed her husband Jonathan Owens to no end.
The 27-year-old gymnast won three golds in the 2024 Summer Games, including the team all-around, individual all-around, and vault. She dominated in almost all the events, except for the beam balance, where she finished with a score of 13.100 and claimed fifth place. This was partly the consequence of her not saluting the judges, which led to a deduction of her points, with the American ultimately missing out on a medal.
However, following this on Day 10, Biles performed her floor routine, where she compensated for the previous incident by saluting the judges until she walked off the podium and nabbed a silver in the event with a score of 14.133. After this achievement, Owens took to Twitter (now X) and wrote:
"Making sure they don't miss it this time!!!😂❤️I love you so much baby, so proud."
Simone Biles opens up after a second-place win on Day 10 at the Paris Olympics
Simone Biles bagged a total of four medals at the Paris Olympics, and one of them was silver in the floor exercise, which was her final event at the games. She lost to Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade, who scored 14.166 points and claimed first place. Meanwhile, Biles' teammate Jordan Chiles claimed third place in the event with a score of 13.766.
Following this event, Biles opened up about her experience on the floor, saying that exhaustion had set in but it was an honor for her to compete with the gymnasts once again.
"Today has been absolutely wild,'I've been out on that floor so many times competing, so obviously exhaustion and all of that sets in, but we still had to go out and compete one more time today," Simone Biles said (as quoted by PEOPLE).
She added:
"And it's such an honor to compete with these girls on both the beam and on the floor."
Further talking about her winning the silver medal on the floor, the American gymnast said:
"At the end of the day, whoever medaled, medaled, and that's what's so exciting, because you just never know with gymnastics. I am not very upset about my performance at the Olympics. I'm actually very happy, proud, and even more excited that it's over, the stress of it."
Along with the four medals, Simone Biles also earned the title of the most decorated US gymnast in Olympic history in Paris this fortnight.