Simone Biles has missed out on a fourth gold medal of the Paris Olympics after falling during her balance beam routine.
The US gymnastics sensation fell off the apparatus midway through her routine in the women’s balance beam final – which was won by Italian Alice D’Amato.
Biles, 27, had already secured golds in the team all-around, individual all-round, and vault events, and was hot favourite to secure her fourth of the games.
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Simone Biles during the women’s balance beam final. Pic: PA
However, her fall from the beam meant she missed out on the medal she has long coveted, finishing fifth.
There was a loud “ohhh” from the thousands of fans – including NFL great Tom Brady – inside a packed Bercy Arena as she lost her balance and had to hop off the beam and onto the mat.
Biles recovered to finish her performance and received a score of 13.100, tying her with US teammate Sunisa Lee for fourth, but slipped one place further down by the end of the final.
Pic: AP
As she waited for her score, Biles rolled her eyes in seeming annoyance knowing she wasn’t going to finish on the podium.
Her total was well below D’Amato’s winning score of 14.366, with China’s Zhou Yaqin taking silver and another Italian, Manila Esposito, coming third.
D’Amato became Italy’s first Olympic champion in women’s gymnastics.
Biles is scheduled to compete in the floor exercise later on Monday, an event where she’s never lost a major international competition, and took gold in Rio de Janeiro eight years ago.
The most decorated gymnast in history, she won her seventh gold medal, and third of the Paris games, on Saturday with victory in the women’s gymnastic vault event.
Pic: Reuters
This summer’s competition has been a triumphant return to the Olympics for Biles, who was one of the biggest stories of Tokyo three years ago when, as the favourite to win multiple golds, she pulled out of most of her events.
She later revealed she was suffering from “the twisties”, where a gymnast loses sense of where they are in the air.
Simone Biles gets back on the beam after falling off during her performance. Pic: Reuters
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She faced high-profile criticism following her decision to drop out and has since been working with a therapist in Paris.