Simone Biles’ journey towards a fourth medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics, which would have been her 11th Olympic honour, was thwarted in the balance beam event on Monday when she tumbled during her performance. Despite having already been awarded golds in team, individual all-around and vault at these Games, the American ended up in the fifth spot.
In contrast, Alice D’Amato from Italy wasn’t necessarily ahead by dominating the final, but by simply avoiding any significant slip-ups. This approach granted the 21-year-old Brescian an unlikely Olympic victory. This achievement marked Italy’s debut gold medal in artistic gymnastics, with D’Amato sharing the glory with her compatriot Manila Esposito, who clinched bronze.
Biles, sharing an identical score with her American co-star, Suni Lee, was left in the fifth place, while the silver was snatched up by Zhou Yaqin, a Chinese young athlete. Lee expressed their shared dissatisfaction, acknowledging their potential was left unfulfilled this time. However, she displayed confidence in Biles who was still set to compete in floor gymnastics.
The final day of the gym meet started with Italy celebrating their first artistic gymnastics’ medal in nearly a century, saw Brescia and Esposito keep their cool as multiple high-profile opponents stumbled on the beam final, full of mishaps that will likely not enter the Olympic Museum’s archives. The beam, a sporting challenge of intense rigidity performed four feet above the ground resembling the width of a credit card, proved too unpredictable for at least half of the eight award hopefuls.
Zhou, the 18-year-old new to the Olympics, was the first out of eight to compete. She had won a silver medal behind Biles at last year’s world championships. Despite promising beginnings, her performance was interrupted by a loss of balance, which made her reach for the beam in correction. Her stumble stunned the audience and earned her a significant penalty from the judging panel. The score of 14.100 she ended up with was undoubtedly a letdown, especially after her superior qualifying score of 14.866.
Following Zhou was Lee, her performance was consistent until an unfortunate slip during the final skill of her aerial series led her to crash painfully onto the beam. Jess Graba, her seasoned coach, gave her comfort after her performance ended with a score of 13.100. Regardless, Lee wrapped up her Paris Games with a team gold and a pair of bronzes, among them one for all-around. This was a significant achievement considering she had to battle severe kidney conditions in order to make it to the start.
The unexpected turn of events presented Biles with an opportunity to earn her third Olympic beam title for the United States, matching previous winners; Shannon Miller and Shawn Johnson. It also potentially gave her the chance to replicate her five-gold win from the world championships in 2019.
However, D’Amato was the next to perform and she delivered a flawless routine earning her a score of 13.466, placing her in the lead for the gold and assuring her a medal. This stirred an enthusiastic reaction from the spectators.
Biles was all set to claim her eighth Olympic gold and a maiden win on the beam but she stumbled off the beam following a usually faultless sequence – a back handspring-layout stepout-layout stepout. She managed to resume her routine and make a successful dismount. After an agonising delay, she was eventually assigned a score of 14.100, the same as Lee’s and insufficient to gain a medal.
Finally, Rebeca Andrade of Brazil performed last, delivering an almost faultless routine except for a missed front aerial-split ring jump. The crowd, believing they had witnessed the winning performance, erupted with cheers, only to be left puzzled and a touch annnoyed when the judges announced a score of 13.933. This left the Brazilian off the podium.
Previously, Zou Jingyuan from China clinched the gold medal in the men’s gymnastics parallel bars competition, the first male athlete in over three decades to secure medals in both rings and bars events in the same Olympics. Illia Kovtun from Ukraine bagged the silver medal, with Japan’s Shinnosuke Oka securing the bronze. As reported by The Guardian.