No medal for Simone Biles on the stability beam this time. The American gymnastics star slipped and fell off the equipment on the finish of her acrobatic sequence in the course of the beam finals on the 2024 Olympics in Paris on Monday, denying her a chance so as to add to the bronzes she received within the occasion on the 2016 and 2020 Video games.
Carrying a blue-and-white leotard that includes over 5,000 crystals, Biles was greater than midway by means of her set when she couldn’t fairly maintain her stability. The 27-year-old hopped off the beam and onto the mat whereas 1000’s inside a packed Bercy Area — together with NFL nice Tom Brady — let loose an audible “ohhh.”
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Biles obtained a rating of 13.100, tied with U.S. teammate Sunisa Lee for fourth.
There was an prolonged look ahead to her rating to publish. At one level, Biles rolled her eyes in seeming annoyance figuring out she wasn’t going to complete on the medal stand.
Alice D’Amato of Italy took the gold with a rating of 14.366. Zhou Yaqin of China earned silver with a 14.100, simply forward of bronze medalist Manila Esposito of Italy. Italy, which received silver behind the U.S. within the workforce competitors, had by no means medaled on beam earlier than.
Biles completed in a tie for fifth with Lee, whose hopes for a gold on beam she’s lengthy coveted ended in the course of her routine when she fell in the course of the finish of her acro sequence, similar to Biles did a couple of minutes later.
The 21-year-old Lee will nonetheless depart Paris with three medals simply months after she was bedridden whereas attempting to navigate a pair of continual kidney-related illnesses.
Whereas Lee’s Olympics are over, Biles can also be within the ground closing later Monday, an occasion the place she’s by no means misplaced a serious worldwide competitors, together with a gold in Rio do Janeiro eight years in the past.
“We were both just kind of annoyed just because we know what we’re capable of,” Lee mentioned. “We weren’t able to get it done today, but she still has floor and she’s the G.O.A.T., so she’ll be amazing.”
There may be loads of historical past on the road for Biles in what might be the final competitors of her profession. Biles has 10 medals in her Olympic profession, together with seven golds. A medal within the ground closing would tie her with Czechoslovakia’s Vera Caslavska for the second-most medals by a feminine gymnast in Olympic historical past, trailing solely former Soviet Union nice Larisa Latynina’s 18.
Biles has stayed comparatively quiet on what lies forward for her past the Paris Video games, although she did nudge the door open a little bit for a doable return when the Olympics shift to Los Angeles.
“Never say never,” Biles mentioned after claiming her second Olympic vault title on Saturday. “Next Olympics are at home. So you just never know. I am getting really old.”
