While the sight of the 27-year-old American gymnastics star walking off the floor with USA Gymnastics team doctor Marcia Faustin might have brought to mind the 2020 Olympics, when Biles stepped away from the team final to focus on her mental health, this situation was notably different.
As Faustin followed Biles off the floor, she was holding athletic tape. Shortly after, Biles returned, her lower left leg wrapped to address a calf injury she had aggravated during her floor exercise warm-up.
What followed were three rotations marked by her usual brilliance.
She performed a floor routine that is still the most difficult in the world by a significant margin. Her two vaults included the Yurchenko double pike, named after her in the sport’s Code of Points, requiring explosive power to rotate and flip multiple times in an instant. Her uneven bars routine concluded with Biles waving to the crowd and dancing alongside her good friend Jordan Chiles.