PARIS –
Simone Biles slipped off the balance beam and failed to win a gold medal for the first time at these Summer Olympics in Paris that have been serving as an emphatic comeback from disappointment three years ago in Tokyo.
In the individual beam final, Biles lost her balance and fell off the apparatus, costing her a chance to make even more history here in France. Alice D’Amato of Italy took home the gold, Zhou Yaqin of China took silver and Italian Manila Esposito took the bronze.
Biles still has one more chance to win her fourth gold medal of these Games later on in the floor exercise final, which marks the end of the 2024 Olympic artistic gymnastic competition.
The stunning moment is the first bump in the road in these incredible Games for the American legend. Biles, already the most decorated gymnast of all time, put her name next to a few more records last week when she won the gold in the team event with Team USA, the individual all-around competition and the vault final.
With those wins, Biles became the most decorated American Olympic gymnast of all time – now with 10 total Olympic medals, including seven gold – and also became the oldest American gymnast to win a gold medal at 27.
She had a chance to tie another incredible mark if she had won both the beam and the floor exercises on Monday. The only two women to ever win nine Olympic gold medals are American swimmer Katie Ledecky and Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina. Biles will have to wait until Los Angeles in 2028 if she wants to try and reach that mark.
It was a tough day on the beam overall for many as multiple competitors fell, including Biles’s Team USA teammate Sunisa Lee.
Lee lost her footing during her routine and slipped, landing with the beam between her legs before tipping over onto the mat on her side. She would end up finishing in sixth place, one spot behind Biles.
Unlike Biles, the 2020 gold medallist in the all-around won’t get another chance on Monday to redeem herself. The beam was Lee’s last competition here in Paris.
“It was a lot of pressure. It was just crazy to see how everybody was going down like that,” Lee said after. “You could feel the tension in the room. The crowd shushing us for cheering. We didn’t like that as it was just so silent in there. I love hearing my teammates cheer for me.”
A pressure-packed floor final
The moment now marks a massive test for Biles later on Monday in Paris when she takes on the floor final.
Throughout these Olympics, Biles has emphasized what a key role her mentality has played in bouncing back from disappointment in Tokyo. She acknowledged after the team final that thoughts of her withdrawal from those events three years ago were lingering as she began her vault for Team USA.
Biles, who has talked about the importance of taking care of her mental health during these Games after each of her golden performances, has said she’s speaking with her therapist every morning before competition and religiously every Thursday.
“After all these years of putting in the mental work in, it’s paid off,” Biles said Saturday after winning her latest gold.
She added, “The Olympics is such a draining process for the athletes. It’s multiple days of competitions, so you definitely have to be on top of your mental as well as your physical (health).”