Yet Biles continued on and delivered a standout performance amid the injury scare.
With Russia banned from competing as a team at these Games, the Americans were heavy favourites to win the gold. In the qualifying round, the US women posted a score more than five points ahead of the next-best teams – Italy, China, and Brazil.
The US women have said they were looking to redeem themselves after falling to silver in Tokyo after Biles suffered a disorienting mental block.
In the vault, with Biles’ 14.900, the US women finished with a 44.100. That’s lower than in the qualifying round, but the difference is solely because Biles opted to perform the less difficult of her two vaults. Overall, that was a great start for the Americans.
Lee, the US team’s star on bars, wasn’t fazed by her mistake in warm-ups. She caught that opening release element without issue. She had a bit of trouble on the next skill – a full-twisting transition down to the low bar – and didn’t connect the next skill. But she kept her rhythm to avoid a major deduction. Lee received a 14.566, the best score of the rotation for the Americans.
And Jordan Chiles put together one of the most stunning floor routines of her career – she was in tears as soon as she was in her final landing position.
On the beam, Biles delivered, with a mostly solid routine. She had to fight to control her wolf turn, which is when she spins on one foot in a squatted position, but she stayed on the apparatus without a major break. On her aerial cartwheel, she wobbled and bent at her hips, which was the biggest deduction in the routine. She still earned a 14.366.
Biles hit her routine on the bars. She had no major issues and looked thrilled when she landed. When the crowd cheered, it was a bit hard to hear the floor music in the arena. She scored a 14.400.
Bars is Biles’ weakest event, but that’s relative to how good she is on the other apparatuses. Biles said earlier this year: “For so many years, everybody told me I’m not good at bars, and I thought I wasn’t good at bars. But it’s not the worst. I can swing bars.”
Rebeca Andrade anchored Brazil’s line-up on bars with a 14.533. She worked through the routine with fantastic form; her legs stayed perfectly together on her pirouetting elements, and her release elements had great amplitude.
She also hit a clean balance beam routine for a 14.133, helping to get Brazil back on track after the early fall in the rotation. Her floor routine was beautiful, with a stumble on her first tumbling pass, but she stuck her double layout third pass for a 14.200. In her last event, she put up a huge 15.100 on vault.
China saw two tough errors: Qiu Qiyuan hit her foot on the bar in the midst of her laid-out Jaeger. She’s normally fabulous on bars. She received a 14.300, but just a 7.700 execution score.
And Zhou Yaqin, one of China’s best beam workers, grabbed the beam and then fell during a switch split leap, getting a 12.300. China typically does well in uneven bars, but floor and vault are weaker events for their team.
Flavia Saraiva, one of the stars of Brazil, took a hard fall on the uneven bars earlier and afterwards wore a bandage on her eyebrow. In her balance beam routine, she bent way over at the waist during one element – but she managed to get a 13.433.
Celebrities in the stands included Natalie Portman, Michael Phelps, Nadia Comaneci and Serena Williams. Tom Cruise stopped by qualifications earlier this week.
Hear it as it happens with live commentary of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 on GOLD SPORT & iHeartRadio, plus comprehensive coverage on Newstalk ZB.
