July 28, (THEWILL) – Star gymnast, Simone Biles, started her campaign at the Paris 2024 Olympics with a strong performance despite injury concerns. Competing at Bercy Arena, Biles and the United States team participated in the second subdivision of qualifications in women’s artistic gymnastics.
Biles is expected to advance to the finals in several events, including the all-around, vault, and floor, and is also in contention for the beam and bars finals.
During the warm-up for her floor routine, Biles experienced discomfort in her lower leg, raising concerns about her condition. She briefly left the arena to receive medical attention but returned with her ankle taped. Despite the injury, Biles delivered an impressive floor routine, scoring 14.600, which was the highest score on the floor so far. She also scored 14.733 on the balance beam, contributing to the United States’ leading position in the team competition with a score of 83.932.
Biles’s performance at age 27 makes her the oldest female gymnast on a U.S. Olympic team since 1952. If she wins the all-around event, she will become the second-oldest woman to win gold in this event, following Maria Gorokhovskaya of the Soviet Union, who won in 1952, at age 30. Biles has already secured four gold medals from the Rio 2016 Olympics and continues to be a top contender in gymnastics.
In addition to Biles, other members of the U.S. team also performed well. Sunisa Lee scored 14.133, on the vault, while Jordan Chiles and Jade Carey scored 14.333 and 10.633, respectively. However, Carey’s performance was marked by a fall on her final tumbling pass, which prevented her from advancing to the floor finals.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
