PARIS (news agencies) — No medal for Simone Biles on the balance beam this time.
The American gymnastics star slipped and fell off the apparatus at the end of her acrobatic series during the Paris Games’ beam finals Monday, denying her an opportunity to add to the bronzes she won on the event at the 2016 and 2020 Games.
Wearing a blue-and-white leotard featuring over 5,000 crystals, Biles was more than halfway through her set when she couldn’t quite keep her balance. The 27-year-old hopped off the beam and onto the mat while thousands inside a packed Bercy Arena — including NFL great Tom Brady — let out an audible “ohhh.”
Biles received a score of 13.100, tied with U.S. teammate Sunisa Lee for fourth.
There was an extended wait for her score to post. At one point, Biles rolled her eyes in seeming annoyance knowing she wasn’t going to finish on the medal stand.
Alice D’Amato of Italy took the gold with a score of 14.366. Zhou Yaqin of China earned silver with a 14.100, just ahead of bronze medalist Manila Esposito of Italy. Italy, which won silver behind the U.S. in the team competition, had never medaled on beam before.
Biles finished in a tie for fifth with Lee, whose hopes for a gold on beam she’s long coveted ended in the middle of her routine when she fell during the end of her acro series, just like Biles did a few minutes later.
The 21-year-old Lee will still leave Paris with three medals just months after she was bedridden while trying to navigate a pair of chronic kidney-related diseases.
While Lee’s Olympics are over, Biles is also in the floor final later Monday, an event where she’s never lost a major international competition, including a gold in Rio do Janeiro eight years ago.
“We were both just kind of annoyed just because we know what we’re capable of,” Lee said. “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 is plenty of history on the line for Biles in what could be the last competition of her career. Biles has 10 medals in her Olympic career, including seven golds. A medal in the floor final would tie her with Czechoslovakia’s Vera Caslavska for the second-most medals by a female gymnast in Olympic history, trailing only former Soviet Union great Larisa Latynina’s 18.
Biles has stayed relatively quiet on what lies ahead for her beyond the Paris Games, though she did nudge the door open a little for a possible return when the Olympics shift to Los Angeles.
“Never say never,” Biles said after claiming her second Olympic vault title on Saturday. “Next Olympics are at home. So you just never know. I am getting really old.”
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