Women’s individual event finals were, to no surprise, absolutely incredible—but they did not come without their shocks. On vault, Simone Biles once again showed the world her phenomenal skills on her best apparatus, performing the Yurchenko double pike, one of the most difficult vaults in the world to ever be done. She landed herself a huge score of 15.300, grabbing gold, while Rebeca Andrade, who won gold in this event in Tokyo, finished second. In Tokyo, the U.S.’s Jade Carey lost a potential gold medal in this event after “stubborn stepping” on her first vault; however, she redeemed herself in Paris, scoring bronze. On uneven bars, Algeria’s Kaylia Nemour got gold after a spectacular score of 15.7, followed by China’s Qiu Qiuyan in silver and Suni Lee in bronze, achieving third on one of her best apparatuses.
Women’s beam and floor finals, however, proved to be surprisingly dramatic. On beam, four out of the eight competing women fell off the apparatus, including Suni Lee and Simone Biles. The gymnasts claimed the silence that filled the arena during the beam competition threw them off balance (quite literally), leading to a surprising amount of poor routines. However, with Lee and Biles out of contention for gold, the podium was open for the taking. After stunningly strong routines, considering the falls from the other gymnasts, Manila Esposito of Italy placed third, China’s Zhou Yaqin, despite a mistake on her routine, placed second, and Alice D’Amato of Italy placed first.
Floor proved an even more dramatic story. Both Simone Biles and Rebeca Andrade displayed their most impressive skills during the final, with Biles reaching almost 12 feet of height during a tumbling skill called the triple twisting double back. However, she stepped out-of-bounds twice during her routine, leaving room for Andrade to secure her first-place spot after a flawless routine—redemption after she landed second in Tokyo for two out-of-bounds herself—and leaving Biles with silver. Initially, Chiles, the last competitor, placed fifth with a score of 13.666, leaving Romania’s Ana Barbosu in third with a score of 13.700. However, a few moments after the final scores were released, Chiles could be seen screaming and crying in joy—for she had just moved up to third place. Team USA coach Cecile Landi had submitted an inquiry that had ended up being accepted about one of Chiles’ skills, boosting Chiles’ score up to a 13.766—and into third place. While Chiles was ecstatic about her first individual Olympic medal, Barbosu was seen dropping her flag and laughing in pure shock while staring at the scoreboard, realizing that Chiles’ joy was her nightmare; she had just lost her bronze medal.
Later on in the night, the medal ceremony took place, with Andrade, Biles, and Chiles standing proudly on the first-ever all-Black Olympic podium. As they were adorned with their respective medals, an iconic moment occurred: Biles and Chiles bowed down to Andrade in the first-place spot in a delightful show of sportsmanship and teamwork. However, the night did not end happily for everyone. Barbosu could be seen leaving the stadium in tears, crushed after having an Olympic bronze medal dropped into her hands and then ripped right back out.
To make matters worse, a third gymnast, Romania’s Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, was also done a huge injustice at this final. During her routine, judges deducted 0.1 points (which may seem negligible, but is quite a lot in gymnastics scoring) for stepping out-of-bounds; however, upon further investigation by TV channels broadcasting the event, it was shown that Voinea clearly did not step out-of-bounds, barely managing to keep her foot inside the boundary. Team Romania submitted an inquiry as well for Voinea’s score, but it was rejected. Had she been given back the 0.1 points that she rightly deserved, Voinea would have had a score of 13.800, giving her the bronze medal over both Chiles and Barbosu. The floor final wrapped up with tears and injustice for both Barbosu and Voinea—but the drama continued after the Olympic gymnastics competition had finished. Among much debate and controversy among the gymnastics field, it was decided that Barbosu would be given the bronze back. While she got the medal she deserved, Chiles and Voinea did not, leaving them heartbroken.
Despite the drama that ensued that night, the gymnastics competition in Paris was absolutely magical. Watching the world’s best gymnasts on the most spectacular stage possible wasn’t just an unforgettable experience for spectators, but for the gymnasts themselves.
