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PARIS (AP) — No medal for Simone Biles on the balance beam this time.
The American gymnast slipped and fell off the apparatus at the top of her acrobatic series within the balance beam final on Monday, missing out on a probability so as to add to the bronze medals she won within the event on the 2016 and 2020 Games.
Wearing a blue and white leotard embellished with over 5,000 crystals, Biles was greater than halfway through her routine when she lost her balance and leapt from the balance beam to the mat as hundreds within the packed Bercy Arena set free an audible “oohh.”
Biles achieved a rating of 13.100, placing her joint fourth along with her US teammate Sunisa Lee.
It took quite some time for her results to be released, and at one point Biles rolled her eyes, seemingly annoyed because she knew she wouldn't find yourself on the rostrum.
Italy's Alice D'Amato took gold with a rating of 14.366. China's Zhou Yaqin won silver with 14.100, just ahead of bronze medalist Manila Esposito of Italy.
Biles tied for fifth place with Lee. Her long-held hopes of a gold medal on the balance beam ended mid-routine when she fell at the top of her acro series, just as Biles did just a few minutes later.
Lee, 21, will still leave Paris with three medals, just months after being confined to bed as a result of two bouts of chronic kidney disease.
While Lee's Olympics are over, Biles may also be in the ground exercise final later Monday, an event during which she has never lost a significant international competition, including a gold medal in Rio do Janeiro eight years ago.
For Biles, a whole lot of history is at stake in what might be the ultimate competition of her profession. Biles has won 10 medals in her Olympic profession, including seven golds. A medal in the ground final would put her level with Czechoslovakia's Vera Caslavska for the second-most medals by a gymnast in Olympic history. Only former Soviet Union legend Larisa Latynina has won 18 medals.
Biles has remained relatively tight-lipped about what lies ahead for her after the Paris Games, but has opened the door barely to a possible return if the Olympics move to Los Angeles.
“Never say never,” Biles said after winning her second Olympic vault title on Saturday. “The next Olympics will be at home, so you never know. I'm getting really old.”
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