Italy’s D’Amato triumphs as Biles falls in ‘weird, awkward’ balance beam final

PARIS: Alice D’Amato gave Italy a historic Olympic gymnastics gold as Simone Biles joined the fallen in what the US great called a “weird and awkward” balance beam final on Monday.

Biles, who led the US women to team gold before claiming the all-around and vault titles, was among a series of finalists to fall off the unforgiving apparatus, finishing fifth. Biles closed out her Paris Games campaign with a floor exercise silver behind Brazilian Rebeca Andrade, and put a philosophical spin on an unexpected final day of competition.

“Obviously (it) wasn’t my best performances, but at the end of the day, whoever medalled medalled and that’s what’s so exciting, because you just never know with gymnastics,” Biles said.

D’Amato, with a score of 14.366, celebrated a first-ever women’s gymnastics gold for Italy, who also saw Manila Esposito take bronze behind China’s Zhou Yuqin. “Today, I was a little bit lucky,” D’Amato said with a laugh. “I tried to face up to the situation, considering that there were mistakes in the final.

“It was a great achievement for me to be in the balance beam final in the first place, and it was incredible to perform such a great routine at the end.” Biles found the atmosphere during the beam final “really weird and awkward,” saying a lack of music made random noises such as phones and cameras stand out.

“None of us liked it,” Biles said. The first three finalists made big mistakes on the 10cm-wide beam. China’s world silver medallist Zhou lost her balance and had to grab onto the beam to avoid a fall.

American Sunisa Lee and Brazilian Julia Soares both fell, Lee taking a hard fall onto the wooden beam when her foot slipped at the end of what would have been an impressive aerial series.

Italy’s Esposito had a big wobble, and Romania’s Sabrina Maneca-Voinea fell twice. D’Amato had a couple of minor wobbles in an otherwise impressive routine to seize first place just before Biles competed.

The US superstar, again greeted rapturously by Bercy Arena fans, made a confident start, but she somehow went off-line on an aerial series and slipped off, drawing a collective gasp from the crowd.

Lee said she and Biles were both put off by crowd members trying to quiet others who were cheering during the beam competition -- including competitors trying to encourage their teammates.