Simone Biles received an uncommon deduction after her balance beam routine on the final day of women's gymnastics Monday -- and she made sure the judges saw she wasn't making the same mistake twice when it came to her floor routine.
Biles, who did not medal in the beam after falling during her routine, was docked points for something so subtle many viewers likely wouldn't have noticed.
Gymnasts are required to salute the judges by holding up their hands before and after each performance. In Biles' case, the judges ruled she did not salute them long enough and deducted her three-tenths of a point.
According to the code of points from the International Gymnastics Federation, gymnast must "present themselves in the proper manner (arm/s up) and thereby acknowledge the D1 judge at the commencement of her exercise and to acknowledge the same judge at the conclusion of her exercise." Failing to do so can result in a 0.3-point deduction.
While the deduction wouldn't have mattered in the end result, Biles made sure it didn't happen again.
So when she saluted during her floor routine a short time later, she held the salute the entire time she walked off the floor.
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The salute may not have been a deduction in her floor routine, but Biles did face other deductions that cost her a gold medal.
Her tumbling passes weren’t perfect — she stepped out of bounds twice — but her difficulty is usually so far above everyone else that it hardly matters.
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Not this time. She received a 7.833 execution score that included 0.6 in deductions for stepping out of bounds, allowing Brazil's Rebeca Andrade to win her second Olympic gold.
Biles ended at 14.133 while Andrade finished at 14.166.
When asked about the salute after the competition, Biles' coach confirmed the deduction.
"Yes, she did [get a deduction for that]," Cecile Landi said. "That's why on floor she sure did not get deducted for it."
Landi said the coaches watched it and thought the deduction was "a little harsh, but at the end, it didn't matter."
Both Biles and teammate Suni Lee did not medal in the beam event, which saw numerous falls from several gymnasts in the competition.
It was the first podium finish without an American in women's gymnastics so far in Paris.
