The balance beam competition on Monday ended with one of the biggest upsets of this year’s Olympic Games. With the favorites all struggling, Alice D’Amato was able to secure Italy’s first ever gymnastics gold medal.
The 21-year-old, who already won a silver in the team competition, finished with a score of 14.366. Despite seemingly showing some nerves early in her routine, D’Amato steadied herself and finished in style — perfectly dismounting to take the lead, and the eventual if quite surprising victory.
Despite her routine earning a relatively modest 5.8 difficulty score, D’Amato’s top-rated execution was enough to secure the top spot on the podium. Zhou Yaqin from China won silver (14.100), with another Italian, Manila Esposito (14.000), winning bronze.
D’Amato performed at a high level, but she also benefitted from some wobbles elsewhere in the competition. Neither Zhou nor co-favorite Simone Biles were able to finish their routines without some major issues, for example.
Zhou had scored the most points in the qualifying round; her 14.866 would have earned her the win on Monday, and was a full point more than what seventh-ranked D’Amato scored in the qualifiers (13.866). With gold potentially on the line, however, she was forced to put both hands on the beam at one point in order to avoid falling.
That move might have made the difference between gold and silver, even though it helped prevent Zhou from meeting the same fate as Biles. The American gymnastics superstar, after all, did indeed hit the deck. Non-US viewers can watch the video here. Here’s another look at Biles’ fall.
Biles’ fall was all it took to remove her from the race for a medal. Even though she still earned a 6.2 difficulty score, her 7.200 execution minus a 0.300 penalty was not enough to keep her medal streak on the balance beam alive: after winning bronze in both 2016 and 2021, she finished fifth — one spot ahead of her American compatriot Suni Lee, who also fell.
Biles and Zhou failing to meet expectations was not the only drama on Monday. The scoring announcements also took plenty of time, with Biles in particular seeming irked by the delay following her turn.
