A trio of U.S. gymnasts have one last day to add to their collection of medals at the 2024 Olympics.
Simone Biles, with three golds already secured in Paris, will take part in both the balance beam and floor exercise finals on Monday. She’ll be be joined by teammate Suni Lee in the beam and Jordan Chiles in the floor.
Biles has a good shot to earn two more medals, which would put her at 12 total Olympic medals, second-most all-time for a female gymnast.
Lee also has three medals in these games, one gold in the team event and a pair of bronzes in the all-around and uneven bars. Both Lee and Chiles are trying for their first individual gold medals in Paris.
Regardless of how Monday’s action plays out, it’s already been a highly successful Olympics for the women’s gymnastics team. Now the U.S. is just trying to run up the score.
How to watch balance beam and floor finals
Time: 6:38 a.m. ET (beam) and 8:23 a.m. ET (floor) on Monday, Aug. 5
Location: Bercy Arena, Paris
Channel/streaming: E!, Peacock
Live20 updates
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OK, they’re going to examine the beam, right? Because this feels like the 2000 Olympic qualifiers vault saga all over again.
— Chantel Jennings (@ChantelJennings) August 5, 2024
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Biles gets a 13.100, eliminating her from medal contention
She does not look happy. Four of seven gymnasts have fallen so far, and now Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade will go for gol with 14.366 being the score to beat.
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Simone Biles comes off beam
That’s a heartbreaker for Biles, who had everything lined up in front of her. She recovers well, but now we’ll see where she lands, and if she even makes the podium.
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Here comes Simone Biles
14.366 is the score to beat, with only Rebeca Andrade behind her.
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Italy’s Alice D’Amato moves into gold position with 14.366
D’Amato had barely any missteps in a beautiful routine and now she’s guaranteed a medal. She’s in gold position with two gymnasts to go.
Next up: Biles, Simone.
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Sabrina Maneca-Voinea of Romania slips off twice, gets an 11.733
We’ve had four slips off the beam through five gymnasts so far. The two cleanest so far both had significant wobbles. You could call that an open door for Biles, or an omen.
Next up is Alice D’Amato, who has a medal well within reach with a clean routine.
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Italy’s Manila Esposito moves into second with (relatively) clean routine
The Italian had maybe the cleanest routine so far, by which we mean she only had one big wobble. She gets a 14.000 and moves into silver position behind Zhou with four gymnasts to go, including Biles and Andrade.
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Brazil’s Julia Soares gets a 12.333 after coming off the beam
It’s been a rough start here at the balance beam, where we’ve had significant missteps by the first three competitors. It is a cruel, cruel apparatus.
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Lee gets a 13.100
Lee’s Olympic program will likely end with a gold in the team competition and two bronzes in the all-around and uneven bars. A disappointing end, but a strong return given the kidney issues she had to fight.
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Suni Lee falls from balance beam
That’s rough for Suni Lee. She was going well, then had her foot slip and fell off the beam on her hardest technique, a triple cartwheel. That will likely take her out of medal contention.
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Zhou falters and gets a 14.100
Biles, Andrade and Lee’s job just got a little easier.
Zhou was doing well until a wobble on her jump-spin, which caused her to have to put her hand down on the beam. She gets a 14.100, well worse than what both Biles and Andrade got in qualification.
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China’s Zhou Yaqin, top qualifier and 2023 world runner-up, hits the beam first
Barring disaster, Biles was/is considered an overwhelming favorite in the all-around, the vault and the floor exercise. With her missing the final of the uneven bars, it’s the balance beam that is the variable in her program, with two Olympic bronzes and last year’s world championship gold.
It’s the 18-year-old Zhou who has the best chance to beat her, and she’ll be up first.
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Simone Biles final night in Paris, and possibly the Olympics, is an expensive ticket
Ticket resellers outside Bercy Arena were seeking around 1,000 euros ($1,100 US) for gymnastics today, possibly the final time Simone Biles competes in the Olympics.
— Dan Wetzel (@DanWetzel) August 5, 2024
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Next up: balance beam
Simone Biles and Sunisa Lee are both in the field on the balance beam, where they will compete with top qualifier Zhou Yaqin from China and all-around silver medalist Rebeca Andrade. A stacked group, in the event where Biles won her only individual medal in Tokyo amid her fight with the twisties.
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Men’s parallel bar finishes with Zou Jingyuan winning back-to-back golds
GOLD: Zou Jingyuan, China (16.200)
SILVER: Illia Kovtun, Ukraine (15.500)
BRONZE: Oka Shinnosuke, Japan (15.300)
Shinnosuke bumps Zheng on the final routine, but Zou comes through to defend his gold medal from Tokyo and bump China’s gold total to an Olympics-leading 21.
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China’s Zou Jingyuan gets a 16.200
As expected, the defending gold medalist blows away the competition with a 16.200. Ukraine’s Illia Kovtun sits in silver position at 15.500 and China’s Zheng Boheng is in bronze at 15.100.
Two more gymnasts to go.
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Men’s parallel bars up first in final day of Olympic gymnastics
Before Simone Biles, Sunisa Lee and Jordan Chiles take the floor, it will be the men’s parallel bars up first in our last day of gymnastics of the Paris Games. China’s Zou Jingyuan is considered the heavy favorite.