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The 2024 Paris Olympics have begun, and Team USA’s women’s gymnastics team started its qualifications on Sunday at Bercy Arena. Simone Biles, Jade Carey, Jordan Chiles, Sunisa Lee and Hezly Rivera are looking to get back on top in Paris after winning the team silver medal in the 2021 Tokyo Games.
The quintet got off to a good start, but not without some stumbles. Most notable was Biles sustaining a lower left leg injury while warming up for her floor exercise during Team USA’s second rotation.
Biles could be heard saying it hurts to push off and left the arena floor at one point, but stayed in the competition, with a heavily taped ankle. She had a significant misstep on her floor routine and needed a big step backward to land her signature Yurchenko double pike on the vault, but exited qualification with a huge lead in the all-around standings.
Meanwhile, Lee narrowly beat out Chiles for the second American spot in the individual all-around finals and will get a chance to defend her gold medal in Tokyo. The worst day belonged to Carey, who fell badly on the floor exercise and won’t get a chance to defend her own gold in the discipline.
Read more about Simone Biles’ injury in Dan Wetzel’s story right here.
The top eight teams from qualifying advance to the team final on Tuesday. The top 24 individuals in the all-around will make the finals on Thursday.
The Americans were in the second subdivision of the day. Brazil, perhaps the USA’s biggest challenger in the team event, wrapped things up in the fifth subdivision with an impressive showing of its own. Rebeca Andrade finished second in the individual all-around
Women’s Team qualification results
1. United States (172.296)
2. Italy (166.861)
3. China (166.628)
4. Brazil (166.499)
5. Japan (162.196)
6. Canada (161.563)
7. Great Britain (160.830)
8. Romania (159.497)
9. Netherlands (159.096)
10. Australia (158.964)
Women’s All-Around qualification results
1. Simone Biles, USA (59.566)
2. Rebeca Andrade (57.700)
2. Sunisa Lee, USA (56.132)
3. Jordan Chiles, USA (56.065)
4. Kaylia Nemour, Algeria (55.966)
5. Manila Esposito, Italy (55.898)
6. Alice D’Amato, Italy (55.432)
7. Qiu Qiyuan, China (54.998)
8. Ellie Black, Canada (54.766)
9. Rina Kishi, Japan (54.699)
10. Ou Yushan, China (53.965)
Live34 updates
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Team USA holds big lead after two subdivisions
Team USA didn’t have the cleanest qualification round, between Simone Biles’ injury and Jade Carey’s fall, but they hold a huge lead with a 172.296 on the team standings after two subdivisions. Currently in second place is China with 166.861.
Meanwhile, the top of the individual all-around leaderboard:
1. Simone Biles, 59.566
2. Sunisa Lee, 56.132
3. Jordan Chiles, 56.065 (eliminated)
4. Algeria’s Kaylia Nemour, 55.966Three more subdivisions to go. We’ll check back in once the field has filled out.
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Suni Lee beats out Jordan Chiles for the all-around final
Being a Team USA gymnast means you could be the third-best in the world, but get eliminated by your teammates. Suni Lee beats out Chiles with a 14.866 on the bars and will get a chance to defend her gold medal.
Meanwhile, Simone Biles is untaping her ankle after a hard day’s work.
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Simone Biles finishes up dramatic qualification round strong
The bars might be Biles’ worst event, but she looked great there, nailing a difficult dismount and getting a 14.433 score. She was all smiles as she hit the mat… then walked away in the wrong direction. She should hold a chasmic lead in the all-around when all of the subdivisions are done.
Now, Suni Lee, competing for her own all-around spot.
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Here’s Biles’ first vault, via Lindsey Vonn
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Jordan Chiles makes a strong all-around bid with a 14.266 on bars
Suni Lee will basically need to be perfect here to get a chance to defend her all-around gold in Tokyo.
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Hezly Rivera gets Team USA started on the uneven bars
The 16-year-old rookie starts Team USA off strong with a 13.900. Cute: NBC showed a heartrate monitor for her father Henry, which sat at around 180 BPM
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Biggest drama remaining: the fight for the second U.S. all-around spot
Only two gymnasts per country are allowed to qualify for the individual all-around finals. Biles will almost certainly take the first U.S. spot. The second one will come down to Jordan Chiles vs. Suni Lee.
Chiles sits at 41.799 while Lee is at 41.266, but Lee could hold the advantage on the bars, where she won bronze in Tokyo.
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Biles lands her second vault, then hops off stage on one foot
Biles is clearly in some pain. She hopped down the stage with one foot and seems to be limping as she walks around the arena floor, but the vaults are all that count. She gets a 14.800, working out to a 15.300 overall score, and she is sitting pretty heading into Team USA’s final rotation, the uneven bars.
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Biles gets a 15.800 on her first vault
Nearly two points higher than every other vault. That. Will. Play
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Simones Biles lands the Yurchenko double pike
NBC’s Laurie Hernandez: “I feel like I’m going to throw up”
Biles: lands the hardest trick in gymnastics with a taped ankle, with a big step backwards.
Hernandez: “Yay.”
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Jade Carey recovers from floor disaster with two great vaults, Simone Biles up next
Carey shakes off her bad fall on the floor routine with a 14.433 on vault. She’ll make the finals with a huge score and her mother is tearing up in the crowd.
Next up: Simone Biles.
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Suni Lee and Jordan Chiles stay solid on vault
Lee posts a 14.133 while Chiles has a 14.21. Both great scores. Jade Carey up next.
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Here’s part of the Biles floor routine, which leaves out her opening misstep
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Team USA on the vault now
With a taped ankle, it’s now time for Biles’ signature event: the vault. She’ll be making two vaults, so we’ll see if the injury affects her.
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Biles looks fine
Outside of putting her left foot out of bounds on her first tumble, Biles just came up big. Either that ankle injury was much ado about nothing, or we just saw some incredible grit. She could be heard saying “I was looking through that routine like ‘what the f*** was that.'”
She gets a 14.600, again the best of the day, and all is well for now outside of Carey not being able to defend her gold medal.
Source Agencies
