Simone Biles has spoken out after having a furious reaction at the crowd, as the gymnast missed out on a gold medal.
The Team USA Olympian has been one of the top performers in any sport during the games, finishing with three gold medals and one silver, which cements her place as the most successful American gymnast in Olympic history.
Earlier today (5 August), the 27-year-old was furious at the crowd during the Balance Beam event after she fell off the beam, negatively impacting her score as the gymnast finished in fifth, missing out on a podium finish for the first time this Games.
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Though Biles didn't directly blame the crowd for the result straight away, BBC commentators theorised that it was 'something in the arena' that put her off.
She still recovered and finished with a score of 13.100, with the star looking visibly angry at the crowd as she apparently accused them of making noises as she was on the beam, according to Metro.
Agitated, she could be heard saying: “Why are they all shushing? As soon as I’m going they’re like shushing so much.”
USA Gymnastics teammate Sunisa Lee responded: “I don’t know why, are they [the Olympic gymnastics organisers] telling them to?”
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Lee also fell off the beam in a final that was described as 'odd' by Biles, who later commented on the events.
She said: “The beam final is always the most stressful, usually we have music or background noise, whatever that may be, and honestly we do better in environments when there’s noise going on because it feels the most like practice.
“Today you could hear the ringtones going off, the photo clickers, whatever that was and you’re trying to stay in your zone and then the people start cheering and the shushing gets louder so they should be shushed because they’re louder.
“I don’t know, it was really weird and awkward and we’d asked if we’ve could have some music or some background noise, so I’m not really sure what happened there. It’s not our favourite, none of us liked it.
“It was an odd beam final.”
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But there was still one more event for the sporting legend, following her golds in the all around, vault and team competition.
Biles would compete in the floor event, where she would perform an extensive routine on the springboard gymnastics floor, though this did not go exactly to plan either.
The American stepped out of the floor area twice during the routine, costing her dearly, as her score of 14.133 meant she took silver behind Brazilian Rebeca Andrade, who hit a score of 14.166.
American Jordan Chiles took bronze after a successful appeal of her score.
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Biles later reflected on the crazy final gymnastics day, saying: “Today has been absolutely wild. I’ve been competing here for a week or so now, so obviously exhaustion sets in now but we still had to go out and compete one more time today and it’s such an honour to compete with these girls on the beam and floor.
“Obviously it wasn’t my best performances but on the day, whoever medalled medalled and that’s what is so exciting with gymnastics.
“I’m not upset about my performance or anything, I’m actually very happy, proud and even more excited that it’s over!
“I’ve accomplished way more than my wildest dreams, not just at this Olympics but in the sport – I can’t be mad at my performances."
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The 11-time Olympic medallist went on to speak more about her journey from the 2020 Tokyo games, where she pulled out after just one event due to mental health problems.
“A couple of years ago I didn’t think I’d be back at an Olympic games so competing and walking away with four medals, I’m not mad about it, I’m pretty proud of myself and it’s always so exciting to compete,” Biles said.
She was also quick to heap praise on rival and friend Rebeca Andrade, who she and Chiles showed their sportsmanship to on the podium, bowing to her.
The gymnast explained: “I love Rebeca, she’s incredible. She’s so amazing, a queen, it was an all-Black podium so that was super exciting for us and then Jordan said ‘shall we bow to her’ and I said ‘absolutely’ – that’s why we did.
“She’s so exciting to watch and it was the right thing to do."
Topics: Simone Biles, Olympics, Sport, Mental Health
Joshua Nair