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Simone Biles made a blockbuster return to Olympic competition on Sunday, powering through left calf pain to get her multiple-medal bid off to a rousing start.
The American, aiming to add to the four gold medals she won in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, tweaked her left calf warming up for her second apparatus, the floor exercise.
It didn’t stop her from soaring through her signature Yurchenko double pike vault — now known as the Biles II — which even with a big step back on landing earned a 9.4 for execution for a massive total of 15.800 points.
She topped the qualifying standings in all-around, vault and floor exercise, was second on beam behind China’s Zhou Yaquin and just missed out on a place in the uneven bars final.
“Pretty amazing,” was Landi’s assessment after Biles piled up 59.566 points in the all-around standings.
The United States, on a mission to regain team gold after settling for silver in Tokyo three years ago, topped the team standings on 172.296 points, leading Italy, China and Brazil — who were led by a powerhouse performance from Rebeca Andrade.
Japan, Canada, Great Britain and Romania rounded out the team qualifiers.
Biles’s Olympic return had Bercy Arena abuzz, the crowd featuring Hollywood A-listers Tom Cruise, Jessica Chastain and Greta Gerwig, pop star Ariana Grande, Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour and rapper Snoop Dogg.
After entering the arena to deafening cheers, Biles crushed every element in her opening balance beam routine.
It was then she appeared to hurt herself warming up for the floor exercise, but after having her leg and ankle taped she delivered a dynamic floor routine that featured both her Biles I double layout with half a twist and her Biles II “triple-double” of two back flips with three twists.
– ‘Incredible’ Biles –
“It’s incredible,” US team technical lead Chellsie Memmel said. “What she was able to do looking like she has soreness or something in her leg is remarkable.”
Landi said Biles was already feeling better by the time she closed out her day by sticking the landing on her uneven bars routine — receiving another huge ovation.
Biles withdrew from multiple events at the Tokyo Games as she battled the disorientating mental block that gymnasts call “twisties”.
She still went home with a silver and bronze and was lauded for speaking openly about mental health struggles.
After two years away, Biles has returned as good or better than ever.
At 27 she could become the oldest women’s all-around Olympic champion in 72 years and just the third woman to capture more than one Olympic all-around title.
“She’s just out of this world, isn’t she,” said British gymnast Ruby Evans.
Biles’s teammate Sunisa Lee, who has battled two career-threatening kidney ailments since winning all-around gold in Tokyo, was third in the all-around standings, meaning the final is set to feature the last two gold medallists for the first time in Olympic history.
Brazil’s Andrade, who won vault gold in Tokyo and edged Biles for a second vault world title last year, was second in the all-around, vault and floor and third in balance beam.
Algerian uneven bars specialist Kaylia Nemour, 17, topped that apparatus and was also headed to the all-around final.
France’s hopes of a podium finish on home soil were crushed with a heartbreaking litany of errors from Melanie de Jesus dos Santos and her teammates.
De Jesus dos Santos, who trains with Biles in Texas, was brought to tears as her mistakes piled up.
“I feel like I’ve worked for nothing the past years,” said the inconsolable former European all-around champion.
