Biles bows to Brazilian floor queen

PARIS, France (AFP) — American gymnastics great Simone Biles physically bowed to rival Rebeca Andrade on the podium after being pipped for gold by the Brazilian in the women’s floor exercise final at the Paris Olympics.

Biles had been bidding for a fourth gold in Paris on the final day of competition but after slipping off the balance beam earlier errors also proved costly on the floor.

But the 27-year-old insisted she could not be disappointed by her medal haul in the French capital including three gold as US teammate Jordan Chiles snatched bronze.

“Rebeca’s so amazing, she’s queen,” Biles said.

“She’s such an excitement to watch and then all the fans in the crowd are always cheering for her, so it was just the right thing to do.”

“It was an all-black podium so that was super exciting for us but then Jordan was like should we bow to her and I was like absolutely.”

Biles’ crowd-pleasing acrobatic floor routine to Taylor Swift’s hit song “Ready For It” included two of the skills named after her.

But a 0.6-point deduction for twice stepping out of bounds proved costly as she scored 14.133, narrowly behind Andrade’s gold-winning score of 14.166.

The Brazilian, already a gold medallist in the vault at the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Games in 2021, won her fourth medal in Paris after all-around and vault silver and team bronze.

Despite finishing fourth in the balance beam earlier, Andrade picked herself up to “show people it’s possible.”

“It wasn’t about beating Simone but beating myself,” the 25-year-old said.

“It was very cute of them. They are the world’s best athletes and what they did means a lot to me, we’re always rooting for each other, the final is very difficult for everyone.”