Simone Biles hurts her leg in Olympic gymnastics qualifying but finishes 1st anyway

 

Simone Biles hurts her leg in Olympic gymnastics qualifying but finishes 1st anyway

Gymnast Simone Biles looked to hurt her leg during a warm-up performance on her first day of competition at the 2024 Olympic Games. Although this prompted anxiety, she was still able to complete her routines and finish in first place.

Cecile Landi, Biles's coach, minimized the injury's importance following the competition. Landi remarked, "She felt a little something in her calf."

Biles achieved great results in spite of the injury, setting a competition record of 15.8 on the vault. It was sufficient, when accompanied by impressive performances from her teammates, to guarantee the U.S. women's gymnastics team a position in the team all-around final on Tuesday, when the country is the clear favorite to win gold. This Thursday is the individual all-around final.

According to Landi, there are "at the moment" no worries regarding Biles's capacity to participate in such competitions.

It seemed like Biles injured her leg warming up for the floor exercise, which was her second machine of the evening. Following a successful pass, Biles carefully left the mat, conferred with her coaches, and momentarily vanished from sight. She then went back to have thick athletic tape applied to her ankle and lower calf.

Biles continued to perform her remaining routines in spite of the injury, reaching a peak vault score of 15.8. Landi stated, "Never in her mind" was there a matter of whether she would continue.

There are extremely high expectations for Biles and the entire American women's gymnastics team at the current Olympic Games in Paris.

Since she resumed competition last year following a two-year break, Biles, 27, has been operating at the peak of her career. Along with a gold medal for the United States' team all-around performance, she is seen as the favorite to win at least three individual gold medals.

Such hopes could be dashed by an injury. Women's team technical head Chellsie Memmel stated, "First and foremost, I just want to make sure she's physically okay, and then we're just going to go from there." "What she was able to do, with looking like she had some soreness or something in her lower leg, is remarkable."

Landi disclosed that Biles had momentarily encountered a problem with her calf earlier in the month. "That's when it stopped. then a little bit today as well," Landi remarked. "Just a little pain in her calf."

At the end of the qualification phase, the U.S. women's team held the top team ranking. About 3.5 points behind Biles were gymnasts Jordan Chiles and Sunisa Lee, the reigning individual all-around gold medallist.

In three of the rounds on Sunday, Biles finished last. She so attracted the full focus of a throng of roughly 15,000, many of whom, including celebrities Snoop Dogg, Tom Cruise, and Anna Wintour, had come primarily to observe her while her rivals rested.