2016 Rio Olympics Results: Simone Biles' Balance Beam Mistake Costs Gymnast The Gold Medal
ByRecent 2016 Rio Olympics results revealed that Simone Biles' winning streak ended on Monday. A mistake on the balance beam kept the Team USA gymnastics star from earning her fourth gold medal in Rio.
The official website for the 2016 Rio Olympics results reported that the 19-year-old landed awkwardly while completing a front somersault in the middle of her routine. She reached down with both hands to steady herself when her right foot slipped.
She got a score of 14.733. Biles took home the bronze medal while Sanne Wevers of the Netherlands and fellow Team USA gymnast Laurie Hernandez got gold and silver, respectively. Wevers earned a 15.433 while Hernandez got a score of 15.333.
Simone Biles' balance beam mistake cost her the gold medal for the event. It also meant that her bid to become the first woman to win five golds in a single Olympics is over. The 19-year-old gymnast already won three gold medals for the following events: all-around, team and vault.
"I'm not sure (what happened)," she said. "I didn't even know my foot slipped until I got off the beam and they replayed it. I don't really know what happened."
She does have another chance to win a gold medal on Tuesday, Aug. 16, in the floor exercise final. She will be joining Larisa Latynina, Vera Caslavska and Ecaterina Szabo as the only women to win four gold medals in a single Olympics.
"I'm not disappointed in the medal that I received because anyone would love to have a bronze at an Olympic Games," Biles added. "I'm disappointed in the routine that I did. Not so much the entire routine just the front tuck I guess, because the rest of the routine was pretty good."
The Wall Street Journal reported that Coach Aimee Boorman took to Biles' defense, saying that she was impressed with how the 19-year-old gymnastics star was able to make the save seeing as both her feet went off the beam. "I see it as a triumph, and she won a bronze medal on beam at the Olympics. She can be proud of that," the coach said.