Biles Loses Out On Gold On Beam At Olympics
Italian gymnast Alice D'Amato stunned the gymnastics world by winning the balance beam gold at the Paris Olympics on Monday. Simone Biles, the American favourite, unexpectedly fell off the apparatus, ending her medal hopes in this event.
D'Amato, who had ranked seventh in qualifiers, delivered a flawless routine, scoring 14.366 points. Overwhelmed with emotion, she dropped to her knees in tears upon realising she had won her first Olympic title.
China’s Zhou Yaqin, last year's world championship runner-up, secured the silver despite a shaky moment that required her to grab the beam to avoid falling. She scored 14.100 points. D'Amato's fellow Italian, Manila Esposito, claimed the bronze with a score just 0.1 points behind Zhou.
Team USA Face Setbacks As Biles and Lee Come Fifth and Sixth On Beam
Biles, the most decorated gymnast in history, faced an unexpected setback, finishing in fifth place with a score of 13.100 after losing her balance and falling off of the beam during her routine. Biles' teammate Sunisa Lee also struggled, crashing during her flight sequence and ending in sixth place. Biles was one of four athletes to fall from the beam on Monday.
Reflecting on the event, Lee remarked, "It was just crazy to kind of see how everybody was going down like that. But I think it's just because there's just so much pressure." Lee also noted the crowd, who were unnaturally quiet and shushing attempts to cheer that ended up unnerving some of the gymnasts.
The atmosphere at the Bercy Arena was intense. Biles also expressed frustration with the quiet crowd, which had been shushing attempts to cheer during the beam final. This eerie silence may have added to the tension for the gymnasts. "Me and Simone were like, 'why are they shushing? Like we're just trying to cheer,'" Lee noted.
Andrade Takes Gold On Floor Exercise After Biles Point Deductions
Biles, however, wasn’t done for the day. In the floor exercise final later that afternoon, she aimed for redemption but ended up with a silver medal after landing out of bounds on two of her passes, resultings in 0.3 points being deducted each time.
Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade took the gold, scoring 14.166 points, narrowly edging out Biles, who scored 14.133. American Jordan Chiles won bronze with a score of 13.766. Andrade is the first gymnast to beat Biles in a major international floor final.
Biles had already clinched three gold medals in the team event, the all-around, and the vault. Her performances in Paris have been a remarkable comeback after the struggles she faced in Tokyo three years ago, where she withdrew from most of her events due to mental health issues. Despite her setbacks, Biles has added to her legacy, tying Czech gymnast Vera Caslavska with 11 Olympic medals, second only to Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina’s 18.
