Why Did Simone Biles Earn a Deduction for Not Saluting the Judges After Her Beam Performance?

The Olympic gymnist earned a score of 13.100 during the beam final on Aug. 5

Simone Biles solidified her place as the greatest gymnast of all time at the 2024 Olympic Games, despite missing out on gold during the women's balance beam and floor exercise final on Monday, Aug. 5.

During the balance beam final, the 27-year-old gymnast fell off the beam after one of her flips and ended up earning a 13.100, which put her at fifth place overall. Her Team USA teammate Suni Lee also fell off the beam during her final performance and earned the same score, though ended up in sixth place behind Biles.

Italian gymnast Alice D'Amato won the gold medal for the event while Yaqin Zhou earned the silver for China and D'Amato's teammate Manila Esposito took the bronze.

The judges also ended up deducting three-tenths of a point from Biles overall score after she supposedly did not salute the judging panel for a long enough time.

A user on X (formerly known as Twitter) criticized the deduction, and said her salute was “close enough.” Another user on X called the deduction “petty” and said “the Olympic gymnastic judges should be grateful to Simone Biles for all of the attention on their sport.”

Related: Simone Biles and Suni Lee Both Fall in Balance Beam Final, Finishing 5th and 6th

After her floor exercise during the final later that day, Biles kept her hands up in the salute to the judges for a few extra seconds and even as she left the floor to avoid an additional deduction. The moment went viral on social media with one TikTok user even said they “loved it” and called her the “queen of petty.”

Biles’ coach Cecile Landi told reporters including USA Today afterwards that Biles did get that deduction during the beam final — and made sure “she sure did not get deducted for it" after her floor exercise.

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So why did Biles earn the deduction in the first place?

According to the International Gymnastics Federation’s Code of Points, gymnasts competing 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.” 

The Code of Points does clarify that the salute must take place before and after an exercise, but “no salute is necessary to resume an exercise after a fall.”

According to USA Today, Biles’ coach said she thought the deduction was “a little harsh, but at the end, it didn't matter. So no, we're not going to make a big deal out of it."

Related: Simone Biles' Family Shares How They Celebrated Her Medal-Winning Spree at the Paris Olympics (Exclusive)

After the beam and floor final — where Biles earned the silver medal behind Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade — Biles told reporters at a press conference after the beam and floor final on August 5 that she “can't be mad at my performances” after she stepped away during the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

“I've accomplished way more than my wildest dreams, not just at this Olympics, but in this sport,” she said. "Competing and then walking away with four medals, I'm not mad about it. I'm pretty proud of myself, and it's always so exciting to compete."

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