What went wrong with Simone Biles and Suni Lee in the balance beam at the Paris Olympics? All about the American gymnasts' performance

By Anirudh

Modified Aug 05, 2024 12:54 GMT

Simone Biles and Suni Lee did not win a medal in the balance beam final at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The crowd inside Bercy Arena was almost stunned to see neither American perform as well as they could and squander their chance of adding to their medal tallies.

Biles and Lee entered the final with good performances in the qualification. Biles finished in second place with a score of 14.733 while Lee was in fourth with a 14.033. China's Zhou Yaqin (14.866) finished on top in the qualifiers while Rebeca Andrade (14.500) was third.

With the beam is considered to be one of Lee's best events, her performance was disappointing for fans. She came off the beam after a near-flawless routine, but her medal chances took a big blow when she fell at the end of her acrobatic series. She scored only 13.100 points.

Later, Biles, who has won three golds in Paris so far, finished fifth with a score of 13.100. She failed to land one of her jumps and fell off the beam just like Lee. The beam has not always been the 27-year-old's favorite. She has often talked about how she could not put the routine together during practice.

Biles has won the bronze medal in the event at her two previous Games but could not add to that tally in Paris. Incidentally, it is the first Olympic beam podium this year with no Americans since 2000. The last time this happened was at the Sydney Games 24 years ago.

Alice D'Amato clinched the gold with a 14.366 effort. In doing so, she became Italy's first ever Olympic champion in women's gymnastics. China's Zhou Yaqin (14.100) won silver, while Italy's Manila Esposito (14.000) took home the bronze.

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Simone Biles can add to her Olympic medal tally in floor final, Jordan Chiles also in the fray

All is not done for Simone Biles, as she will return to action on Monday for the floor final at the 2024 Paris Olympics. She will be joined by teammate Jordan Chiles in the event.

Simone Biles at the 2024 Paris Olympics - Getty Images

Biles won the event in 2016 but pulled out of it at the 2020 Tokyo Games. Chiles, on the other hand, is chasing her first individual gold medal in Paris.

They will be competing alongside Italy's Manila Esposito, Brazil's Rebeca Andrade, China's Yushan Ou, Japan's Rina Kishi, Romania's Ana Barbosu, Italy's Alice D'Amato and Romania's Sabrina Maneca-Voinea.