Simone Arianne Biles Owens missed out on what would have been her fourth medal of the Paris Olympic 2024 Games—and her 11th overall—after a fall during her balance beam routine on Monday. Despite having secured gold medals in the team event, individual all-around, and vault earlier in the Games, Biles finished in fifth place, alongside her U.S. teammate Suni Lee, who also faltered during her performance.
Lee, who had previously clinched a team gold and two bronzes, including one in the all-around, expressed frustration over the outcome. “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 GOAT, so she’ll be amazing.”
The balance beam final proved challenging for many, with at least half of the eight finalists falling victim to the apparatus’s notorious unpredictability. The beam, a narrow platform perched four feet above the ground, demands extraordinary precision and courage from its competitors.
Zhou Yaqin, an 18-year-old Chinese gymnast making her Olympic debut, initially appeared to be on track for a flawless routine. However, a misstep during a balance check led her to grab the beam, resulting in audible gasps from the crowd and a significant deduction. Zhou’s final score of 14.100 fell short of her qualifying score of 14.866, leaving her in silver medal position.
Lee, who followed Zhou, had a strong start but slipped during the final skill of her aerial series, causing a painful fall. Her final score of 13.100 marked the end of her Paris campaign, which included significant victories considering her recovery from severe kidney ailments.
As the door seemed to open for Simone Biles, who was a favourite to secure gold in the beam and further her record from the 2019 World Championships, Italy’s Alice D’Amato seized the opportunity. The 21-year-old from Brescia executed a clean, mistake-free routine, earning a score of 13.466. Her performance not only earned her the gold medal but also marked Italy’s first-ever Olympic title in artistic gymnastics. D’Amato shared the podium with her teammate, Manila Esposito, who took bronze.
Biles’s routine ended with a setback when she walked backward off the beam after a series of back handspring-layout stepouts. Although she managed to complete her dismount and received a score of 14.100, it was identical to Lee’s, leaving her outside the medal positions.
Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade also missed the podium despite a strong performance, marred only by a missed front aerial-split ring jump. Her clean dismount elicited cheers from the audience, but confusion ensued when the judges awarded her a score of 13.933, just shy of the medal standings.
Despite the disappointment in the beam final, Simone Biles remains a strong contender for a fourth gold in the floor exercise, scheduled later today. Her previous successes in Paris, including golds in the team event, individual all-around, and vault, have solidified her reputation as one of the sport’s greatest athletes.
In other gymnastics news, China’s Zou Jingyuan won gold in the men’s parallel bars event, becoming the first man in 32 years to secure medals on both rings and bars at the same Olympics. Ukraine’s Illia Kovtun earned the silver, while Japan’s Shinnosuke Oka took bronze.
