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. She hopped off the beam and onto the mat while thousands inside a packed Bercy Arena 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 medallist Manila Esposito of Italy.
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.
WATCH l Live coverage of Day 10 artistic gymnastics apparatus finals:
CBC takes you to a busy day in artistic gymnastics. The men’s parallel bars and horizontal bar final go as well as the women’s balance beam and floor exercise final.
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.
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.”
Zou successfully defends parallel bars title
Zou Jingyuan of China was close to perfection Monday to successfully defend his Olympic title in parallel bars on the final day of artistic gymnastics at the Paris Games.
It was Zou’s third medal in Paris after he and his teammates were runner-up behind Japan in the team event. He also claimed a silver in rings.
Zou, who is also a three-time world champion in the discipline, claimed gold ahead of Illia Kovtun of Ukraine. Shinnosuke Oka of Japan, the all-around champion, took bronze.
There is a final gold medal to be decided later Monday in the men’s competition, on the horizontal bar. It’s another chance for China to add to its tally of Olympic titles after Zhang Boheng posted the highest score in qualifying.
Kovtun kicked off the event with a difficult routine that included a spectacular handstand on one rail that impressed judges and earned him a score of 15.500.
He remained in the lead until Zou posted a massive 16.200 with a sublime routine combining strength elements with impressive aerials that he capped with a stuck dismount. That was the highest single score in artistic gymnastics at these Games.
It was a rare feat from Zou, who became the first man to succesfully defend his title on parallel bars at the Olympics since Sawao Kato of Japan in 1976.
Source Agencies
