This year's Olympic gymnastics were full of emotional moments, but one of the most powerful actually took place off the mat. On Aug. 5, Team USA's Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles shared the first all-Black podium in Olympic gymnastics history, alongside Brazil's Rebeca Andrade.
With Andrade taking home the gold medal for women's floor exercise, Biles and Chiles decided to bow on either side of Andrade at the historic podium ceremony in a particularly poignant act of sportsmanship. "I love Rebeca, she's absolutely amazing. She's an amazing person and [an] even better gymnast," Biles said in a follow-up press conference .
"I can't say enough good things about her. She keeps me on my toes, she makes me want to perform better." In the same interview, Biles revealed that it was actually Chiles's idea to bow to Andrade at the ceremony.
"First, 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 said. "It was just the right thing to do." The impact of an all-Black podium was not lost on Chiles, whose bronze placement marks her first individual Olympic medal.
For her, bowing was an act of respect — a way to acknowledge all of her competitor's hard work. "[Rebeca is] an icon, a legend herself, so I feel like being recognized is what everybody should do when it comes to somebody who's put in the work, put in the dedication," Chiles said in the post-podium press conference. Viewers were qu.