‘It’s a Final Salute to the Crowd’: Fans Discuss Simone Biles’ Unusual Act after Fall & Less than Perfect Floor Routine

Yesterday, August 5, iconic gymnast Simone Biles participated in the final women’s floor exercise event for Artistic Gymnastics. After she was done, Biles turned toward the crowd to give what the public has dubbed a “final salute.”

Earlier that day, standing tall on the Paris Olympics gymnastics beam, Biles was poised and ready to show off her physical prowess and dazzle the crowds eagerly watching from the stands.

However, as she positioned her body to get ready to flip over itself, she lost her footing at some point and fell off the beam. Such a falter caused the Olympian to miss out on scoring the gold. Not only did Biles miss out on first place; she didn’t make the top three, placing fifth in the beam event.

Since posting about her less-than-perfect balance beam routine, our AmoMama readers have flooded our Facebook comment section with their opinions.

One reader, who believes that Biles should quit while she’s ahead, expressed, “She should retire now that the applause is high[.] Before she retires shamefully[.] You are human[,] beautiful and [you’ve] carved your name in the archives of gymnastics 🤸‍♀️.”

Expressing both sympathy and praise for the athlete, another reader penned, “Disappointing for her. Nevertheless, what an amazing athlete!!!!!”

Outside of Biles’ fall, many netizens have also directed their attention to the peculiar act the talented performer did after finishing her floor routine later in the day. Footage taken during the event shows Biles turning to the audience with her arms raised and a huge smile.

She then walks off the mat, keeping her arms in the air until she is completely off the platform. Some people who saw this are under the impression that Biles was trying to send a message to the public that this event was her last hurrah at an Olympics event.

“I know she did this because of the earlier deduction on beam…but does it also kind of look like it’s a final salute to the crowd a bit to anyone else?? 😭😭,” pondered a social media user on X. Similarly, another asserted, “I thought this!!! She is saying a salute and [bye-bye] to Paris and perhaps her last Olympics?!”

However, someone else who didn’t want to make any speculations or conclusions asked, “Why did she do this?” On the other hand, another cohort of the public chose to pay closer attention to the headline that Eurosport used to accompany footage of Biles’ performance.

“Simone Biles with NEAR perfection on the floor! 😲,” reads Eurosport’s video headline. In response to this, one user remarked, “She was far from perfection! She was two times out of boards and got silver? It’s not fair at all!”

Echoing the sentiment, another stated, “Near perfection while she was out of the floor twice!” Someone else simply questioned, “Near perfection????? 😅.”

After the event ended, Biles spoke about her “near perfection” performance, in which she earned a high difficulty score of 6.9, at a press conference.

The 11 Olympic medals winner, who faced a penalty of -0.6 due to her stumbles, divulged, “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.”

While Biles herself is aware that her performance during the women’s floor exercise was less than her best, she clarified that she is still incredibly proud of her accomplishments.

“I’m not very upset or anything about my performance at the Olympics. I’m actually very happy, proud and even more excited that it’s over, the stress of it,” Biles disclosed.

She also conceded that whoever was meant to win a medal won a medal, further indicating that she is at peace with how everything worked out in the end.

Speaking on her experience competing with her fellow Team USA teammates and against other competitors, Biles noted, “And it’s such an honor to compete with these girls on both the beam and on the floor.”

Coming in right behind her teammate with bronze, USA gymnast Jordan Chiles scored 13.766. Biles lost the gold to Brazilian gold medalist Rebeca Andrade, who scored an impressive 14.166.

Far from harboring any animosity toward losing first place to Andrade, Biles showered the talented gymnast with praise. A video shared on TikTok by CBS Sports shows footage of Biles speaking on her experience in competing against Andrade.

“I don’t want to compete with Rebeca no more. I’m tired,” Biles jokingly began, which was met with a few laughs from reporters.

“She’s way too close, I’ve never had an athlete that close, so 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 mhm, I don’t like it no more,” Biles continued.

She even went so far as to say that she’s getting uncomfortable having to compete against the Brazilian superstar.

“But after the bars, and then I saw the score come up, I was like, ‘Oh goodness […] Thank God we did the double pike today,’ because I wasn’t planning on it but I just knew how phenomenal of an athlete she is […] so I was like, ‘Ok, I think I have to bring out the big guns this time,'” Biles concluded.

Adding an extra layer of sportsmanship, Biles and Chiles decided to give Andrade her flowers by bowing down to her when all three of them stood on the podium during the medal ceremony. Talking about the iconic moment, Biles swooned, “She’s so amazing. She’s queen.”

Biles also spoke about how exciting it was for her to see the podium be filled with people of color. After that, she explained how the moment came to be.

“Jordan was like, ‘Should we bow to her?’ And I was like, ‘Absolutely!’ So we were like, ‘Are we gonna do it now?’ And then, that’s why we did it. But she is such an excitement to watch,” Biles shared.

Chiles also jumped in midway into the discussion to corroborate all the praises that Simone Biles had given Andrade. “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. So giving it back is what makes it so beautiful,” added Chiles.

Whether they scored gold, silver, or bronze, all the gymnasts should be more than proud of themselves, not only for their stellar achievements but for also showing incredible sportsmanship by saluting and honoring their fellow competitors. Congratulations to the gymnast athletes, we salute you all!