Simone Biles missed out on her fourth Olympic gold medal in Paris on Monday after Team USA‘s golden girl fell off during the balance beam final.
Biles, who has won team, all-around and vault titles in the French capital, had to step off the beam after becoming unbalanced midway through her routine.
There was also heartbreak for her fellow American Suni Lee, whose medal hopes were ruined when she also fell off the apparatus during her routine.
Biles’ score took an age to come through but, when it did, her total of 13.100 was not enough to finish in the top three.
Italy’s Alice D’Amato and Manila Esposito took gold and bronze respectively, while China’s Zhou Yaqin won silver.
Simone Biles missed out on her fourth Olympic gold medal in Paris on Monday morning
Biles missed out on the opportunity to add to the bronzes she won in this 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 gasp.
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.
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.
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.
Biles had to step off the beam after becoming unbalanced midway through her routine
She managed to climb back on and finish her routine but the error left Biles without a medal
Biles could be seen consoling Lee as she tried to lift her teammate’s spirits before competing on the beam herself.
Yet while Biles’ shortcoming was a surprise, fans were most devastated for Lee after a superb performance and potential shot at gold ended in disaster.
One wrote on social media: ‘Broke my heart seeing suni lee fall rn’.
Another put: ‘That was going to be Suni Lee’s best beam performance before she fell that’s so heartbreaking.’
A third said: ‘The yelp I just let out when Suni Lee fell off that beam’.
While one commented: ‘Half asleep and started full on crying when Suni Lee fell off the beam just now. Happy Monday!’
Lee was not too disheartened after failing to win another medal, insisting that she gave it her best shot.
‘I’m so sad about my beam routine,’ she told E. ‘But I gave it my all, so that’s ok.’
Fellow American Suni Lee saw her medal hopes ruined when she also fell off the apparatus
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.’
