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PARIS — Calf injury?
Who cares?
The GOAT has arrived at the Paris Olympics, and it seems it will take more than a few sore spots, limping and tense moments to slow her down.
Simone Biles injured her left calf during qualifying for the Paris Olympics, but her overwhelming strength remained strong enough to qualify for the all-around competition and to almost guarantee a place in the finals in three of her four events: balance beam, floor exercise and vault.
Immediately after performing a near-perfect balance beam performance, Biles appeared to be injured during a tumbling pass while warming up for floor exercise.
Her personal coach, Cecil Lundy, said Biles “is a great athlete. [felt] I felt a little pain in my calves. I felt a little pain on the floor. [and] I recorded a little bit.”
Randy said Biles had experienced similar pain a few weeks ago, but that it had gone away. Asked if he was worried about whether Biles would be healthy enough to compete, Randy said, “No, I’m not worried at this point.”
Biles briefly left the court with US team doctor Marcia Faustin, who was heard on NBC to say, “It hurts when I kick off.” Panic spread.
Biles re-emerged with a bandaged ankle and a slight but noticeable limp.
She appeared to favor her left foot, but still performed powerfully on her difficult floor routine, earning a score of 14.600, good enough for first place in the competition and all but guaranteeing a spot in the floor final. Qualifying doesn’t officially close until all five disciplines are competed, and the process continues late Sunday night in Paris.
Biles then scored an astounding 15.300 on the vault, also good for first place at the time. She had previously scored a tournament-best 14.733 on the balance beam. She scored 14.333 on the balance beam, but that may not have been enough to qualify for the final.
Biles’ overall score of 59.566 was the best among the competitors after both divisions, and she will almost certainly be joined in the all-around final by Suni Lee, who finished second overall at the time with a score of 56.132.
Biles limped off the field, but neither she nor the other Americans stopped to speak to reporters.
Biles won the gold medal in the individual all-around at the 2016 Rio Olympics, but was unable to compete in the Tokyo Games in 2021 due to a “twisty” injury that affected her mid-air awareness. After Biles withdrew, Li competed in her place and won the gold medal in the same event.
Other U.S. individual final favorites include Biles and Jade Carey on vault, Biles and Lee on balance beam, and Biles and Jordan Chiles on floor exercise.
Next up is the team final here on Tuesday night, where the U.S. will try to reclaim the gold medal. Biles is expected to anchor the event and likely perform in all four events. But Team USA coaches have previously said that if Biles wants to miss any events to take a break physically or mentally, that’s up to her and her highly talented teammates Lee, Carey, Chiles and Hesley Rivera.
“We don’t want to say, ‘You guys are holding us all together, we’re relying solely on you,'” U.S. team technical leader Chelsea Memmel said before qualifying.
It may be even more necessary now.
Biles’ performance suggested she could weather any ailments, but the injuries from the impact were clear: She limped and hopped down the stairs after her vault; at one point she playfully crawled, as if to ease the pain, but then quickly rose to her feet and waved to the fans who had come to see her at the packed Bercy Arena.
At 27, Biles is the oldest American female gymnast since the 1950s, when the sport was much different than it is today, and she said age is a big factor in her preparation for competition.
“I need to take my recovery a little more seriously,” Biles said last month. “When I get back to Rio, [in 2016] I had nothing to do, I didn’t have any tapes or anything. I was just a little hamster running on a wheel.”
