After Simone Biles' silver-medal score came in during the women's floor exercise final at the 2024 Paris Olympics, she walked over to her competitor Rebeca Andrade — to gave her a high-five and a big hug.
When Andrade stepped on the podium, Biles and bronze medalist Jordan Chiles bowed down on either side of her and grabbed her hands as she was awarded the gold medal.
Biles appeared to tweak her calf during landing a tumbling pass during warmups and re-taped her calf ahead of her floor routine. (She had also complained of her calf earlier in the competition.) Biles stepped out of bounds twice during her routine.
Before Biles' score was announced, she was heard on camera speculating on what may happen on the podium.
"I think she got that one. I think Rebeca got this one," Biles said. "Oh, I'm scared."
Biles scored 14.133, just fractions of a point behind Andrade's score of 14.166. Chiles scored 13.766 and initially finished in fourth place. After submitting an inquiry, the judges updated Chiles' score — landing her on the podium.
After the medal ceremony, Biles continued to gush over Andrade.
"I have so much respect for her. She's such a good competitor," Biles said. "She keeps me on my toes. It’s an honor to get to compete with her."
Biles had previously echoed a similar sentiment after winning the women's all-around finals, where Andrade finished closely behind her to secure the silver medal.
"I don’t want to compete with Rebeca anymore! I’m tired. She’s very close to me — I’ve never had an athlete so close," Biles said during a press conference. "This definitely kept me alert and brought out the best athlete in me. So I’m excited and proud to compete with her, but — no."
She added: "I’ve never been so stressed before. Thank you, Rebeca."
Anna Kaplan is a news and trending reporter for TODAY.com.
© 2024 NBC UNIVERSAL PARIS — Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles won silver and bronze, respectively, in the floor exercise final at the 2024 Paris Olympics, finishing behind Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade.
Then the pair, as a part of a podium of all Black women, decided to show respect to the new floor champion, who now has two Olympic gold medals and six overall: They bowed down to Andrade on the podium during the medal ceremony in a moving moment of reverence for Andrade and for the sport of gymnastics.
“Rebeca, she's so amazing, she's queen,” Biles said.
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After Andrade won gold, Brazilian fans in the crowd erupted into cheers, chanting her name just before the medal was draped around her neck. Biles and Chiles said they had a quick confab about how they wanted to honor the gold medal winner, Chiles suggesting the bow, and decided they shouldn’t wait — that the podium was the place they should recognize her.
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“It was just the right thing to do,” Biles said.
“Why don't we just give her her flowers? Not only has she given Simone her flowers, but a lot of us in the United States, our flowers as well,” Chiles said. “So giving it back is what makes it so beautiful. So I felt like it was needed."
Andrade, who won gold on vault in Tokyo and led Brazil to bronze in the team final in Paris, has suffered three ACL tears in her career, but put Biles under more pressure than she’s ever been under in the all-around final here, ultimately taking silver.
“I don’t want to compete with Rebeca no more. I’m tired!” Biles joked after the all-around final. “It’s way too close. … It definitely put me on my toes, and it brought out the best athlete in myself. So I’m excited and proud to compete with her but uh, uh, uh. I don’t like it!"
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