July 28, 2024 – 2:06 PM PDT
PARIS (Reuters) – A radiant Simone Biles made her long-awaited Olympic return at the Paris Games on Sunday, drawing boisterous cheers and applause from an ecstatic, star-studded crowd in a performance that gave U.S. gymnasts the lead in women’s qualifying.
After Biles’ brilliance the U.S. qualified with ease in first place, far ahead of second-placed Italy while China, Brazil, Japan, Canada, Britain, and Romania all booked their spots in Tuesday’s final.
Biles, the world’s most decorated gymnast, returned for her third Olympics after she abruptly pulled out from the team final at the Tokyo Games suffering from the “twisties”, a term used to describe the temporary loss of spatial awareness while performing high-difficulty elements.
Biles also withdrew from the all-around and a number of apparatus finals in Tokyo, raising questions about whether she would ever set foot in an Olympic arena again.
But after a two-year hiatus and with the help of her teammates and a therapist, she made a glorious return in Paris in front of a crowd at the Bercy Arena that included celebrities such as Tom Cruise, Lady Gaga and Snoop Dogg, reinforcing her status of one of the greatest athletes of all-time.
The 27-year-old Biles showed she was back to earn some more glittering gold medals as she laid down the marker in the all-around competition, topping the qualifying standings with a score of 59.566.
She finished 1.866 points ahead of Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade with reigning Olympic champion Sunisa Lee of the U.S. in third.
Biles began on the balance beam, arguably the most difficult apparatus to start on, receiving 14.733 points, scoring just 0.133 less than Zhou Yaqin of China.
Wearing a shimmering leotard featuring thousands of Swarovski crystals, Biles smiled and exhaled as she looked up to the scoreboard, seemingly relieved after completing an impressive performance on the first of four apparatus.
She seemed less pleased, however, with her floor routine, which had a few hiccups but still earned her a score of 14.600, finishing 0.700 ahead of Andrade.
Biles shook off her sullen expression following the floor exercise, landing a stunning 15.800 on her signature double-piked Yurchenko vault, the Biles II.
The gravity-defying vault is so difficult that its start value is several tenths of a point higher than any other vault that will be performed by female gymnasts at the Paris Games.
“I think she just competes by herself,” British gymnast Ruby Evans said of Biles. “We’ve never had anyone like her before and I don’t think we ever will, ever again.”
On Sunday Biles did not perform the original skill on the uneven bars she had submitted for ratification, but she will have another chance to attempt it during Tuesday’s final.
After nailing her dismount, a beaming Biles high-fived her coach Laurent Landi and rushed towards the edge of the mat to wave and blow kisses to the euphoric crowd.
“Simone was outstanding,” Chellsie Memmel, the U.S. team’s technical lead, told reporters.
“That’s how she trains. She comes into the gym and she does her job.”
Biles re-aggravated a left calf injury during Sunday’s competition and Memmel said it was too soon to say how serious the injury was.
CAREY AND DE JESUS DOS SANTOS STRUGGLE
Biles’ compatriot Jade Carey fell over at the end of her last tumbling pass on the floor exercise and that costly error means she will not get the chance to defend her Olympic title on the apparatus in Paris.
Gasps and looks of disbelief could be seen around the arena when Carey stumbled backwards and sat down on the mat, and that mishap left her with a score of 10.633 and near the bottom of the standings.
“I haven’t been feeling the best the past few days but I gave it everything I had today,” Carey posted on X.
“Thank you for all the support I have received. I’m so grateful.”
Only the top eight athletes, with a maximum of two per country, advance to the apparatus finals.
It was a tough day for the French team and their leader Melanie de Jesus dos Santos, who were eliminated from the team final despite the strong support from the home crowd.
Biles and the U.S. were not the only team looking for redemption in Paris.
Romania, who won 10 successive women’s Olympic team medals from 1976 to 2012 but then failed to even qualify for the last two Games, are relying on 17-year-old Sabrina Maneca-Voinea to help end their drought.
Italian hopes are also high after the team surprisingly qualified ahead of China and Brazil despite not having won a team medal for almost a century, their lone medal — a silver — coming in 1928 in Amsterdam.
Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber, Rory Carroll, Chang-Ran Kim and Karen Braun; Editing by Ed Osmond, Pritha Sarkar and Hugh Lawson
