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USA's Simone Biles, Suni Lee Fail to Medal in Women's Balance Beam at 2024 Olympics

Joseph Zucker@@JosephZuckerX.com LogoFeatured Columnist IVAugust 5, 2024

PARIS, FRANCE - AUGUST 05: Simone Biles of Team United States warms up prior to the Artistic Gymnastics Women's Balance Beam Final on day ten of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Bercy Arena on August 05, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Naomi Baker/Getty Images)
Naomi Baker/Getty Images

A place on the medal podium literally slipped away from Simone Biles and Suni Lee in the balance beam on Monday at the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Biles finished in fifth after she landed awkwardly on the beam and lost her footing. Her stumble cost her dearly in her overall score (13.100) and left the door wide open for somebody else to claim gold.

NBC Olympics & Paralympics @NBCOlympics

Simone Biles finishes strong in the balance beam final. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ParisOlympics?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ParisOlympics</a><br><br>๐Ÿ“บ E! and Peacock <a href="https://t.co/l3uZFdEoRA">pic.twitter.com/l3uZFdEoRA</a>

The beam continued a strong Paris Games for Italy, which saw Alice D'Amato and Manila Esposito both medal after they contributed to their country's runner-up showing in the team all-around competition.

D'Amato staked out a special place in Italian gymnastics history.

The Olympic Games @Olympics

Alice D'Amato, Italy's first ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ Olympic champion in women's gymnastics! ๐Ÿคธ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น <a href="https://t.co/xwX2aYxHOI">pic.twitter.com/xwX2aYxHOI</a>


Women's Balance Beam Medal Results

Gold: Alice D'Amato (Italy): 14.366

Silver: Zhou Yaqin (China), 14.100

Bronze: Manila Esposito (Italy), 14.000


Suni Lee, the other American in the event, also watched her medal hopes come crashing down when she fell off the beam during her routine. That she finished with a score of 13.100 and in sixth place was evidence of how strong performance was otherwise.

whitney medworth @its_whitney

suni ๐Ÿ˜ญ๐Ÿ˜ญ๐Ÿ˜ญ๐Ÿ˜ญ๐Ÿ˜ญ๐Ÿ˜ญ

The 21-year-old still leaves Paris with a team gold and two individual bronzes.

Biles and Lee can at least take some comfort in knowing they weren't the only gymnasts who were unable to stay on the beam. The apparatus didn't seem to cause any issues earlier in the Games, but that wasn't the case in the final.

Chantel Jennings @ChantelJennings

OK, they're going to examine the beam, right? Because this feels like the 2000 Olympic qualifiers vault saga all over again.

Artistic gymnastics draws to a close with the floor exercise. Biles and Jordan Chiles will represent Team USA, and for Biles, it could close the curtain on one of the most legendary careers the sport has ever seen.