Simone Biles experienced pain in her left calf on the first day of the women’s gymnastics competition at the Paris Olympics on Sunday but the American never considered aborting any of her four apparatus routines, her coaches said.
Biles, a four-time Olympic gold medallist competing in her third Games, was seen limping at times during the qualifying competition and also as she walked past reporters after she had powered the US to the top of the team standings at the Bercy Arena.
“Just a little pain in her calf,” US coach Cecile Landi told reporters.
Biles was also seen leaving the competition area after performing on her first apparatus, the balance beam, but returned to complete her routines on the floor exercise, vault and uneven bars. She had her left leg and ankle tightly strapped before showing off her dazzling skills on her last three apparatus.
She earned the top scores on the floor (14.600) and vault (15.300) and is also the leading qualifier for Thursday’s all-around final. The women’s team final is on Tuesday.
Landi said Biles, 27, felt pain in her calf “a couple weeks ago,” but that it had stopped before resurfacing on Sunday. It was “never on her mind” that she would not continue her full programme as planned after she began to feel pain. Chellsie Memmel, the technical lead for the team, said it was too soon to say how serious the injury was.
“I need to speak with Simone and our medical staff first so I’m not going to give you an update now,” Memmel said. “Just going to make sure she’s okay.”
Celebrity fanfare
Tom Cruise, Lady Gaga, John Legend, Ariana Grande and Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour were among the celebrities packed into Bercy Arena to witness the return of Biles.
Biles leads a veteran squad seeking redemption after the US team finished second in Tokyo — thus ending their hopes of completing a hat-trick of Olympic team titles following their success in 2012 and 2016.
“It’s awesome,” Cruise said in the stands at the Arena. “Great stories, great athletes. It’s incredible what they do.”
Legend’s wife Chrissy Teigen said there was nowhere they would rather be. “This was on our bucket list. We wanted to make sure we came to this event,” she said.
A five-year-old Biles fan named Georgia, who was in the stands with her father, said she planned to follow in her idol’s footsteps as she performed some impressive gymnastics moves outside the competition arena.
