Team USA’s women’s gymnastics team wasn’t at its best Sunday morning in Paris during the qualification round.
Simone Biles was dealing with the flare-up of a minor calf injury following warmups on floor exercise.
It was a flare-up that caused a real scare, as she left the floor for treatment and was gone for several minutes, per USA Today.
As described by Olympics.com’s Scott Bregman, “Simone crawled about (two-thirds) of the way back down the runway, then hopped the rest of the way on her right leg... Left is taped.”
Reigning Olympic all-around champion Suni Lee, meanwhile, didn’t compete to her full capabilities — always an unnerving proposition — choosing an easier, i.e. less high scoring, mount for her balance beam routine.
Then there was Jade Carey, the reigning Olympic gold medalist on floor, who competed while ill.
How sick was she? Carey told Olympics.com that she hasn’t been able to “eat or anything” the last few days.
“I haven’t been feeling the best the past few days but I gave it everything I had today,” Carey wrote on X. “Thank you for all the support I have received. I’m so grateful.”
And yet, at the end of competition in Subdivision 2 — one of five competitions that will be held Sunday to determine which individuals and teams qualify to compete for medals in Paris — Team USA stood where it was expected to be, atop the standings.
Currently, the U.S. team stands in first place with a score of 172.296, nearly 5.5 points ahead of second-place Italy.
The first-place finish in their subdivision clinched an automatic berth for the Americans in the team final, which will be held Tuesday.
Despite the injury scare, Biles was nearly as good as she’d ever been and finished first in the all-around competition with a 59.566, a performance that included a massive 15.800 on vault, a 14.733 on beam, a 14.600 on floor and a 14.433 on uneven bars.
She currently is in first place on vault and floor and second on beam.
Right behind Biles was Lee, who bounced back from an uncertain performance at the U.S. Olympic Trials to record a 56.132, an all-around score buoyed by a score of 14 or better on three events, including a 14.866 on bars.
Lee currently is in third place on bars and beam (14.033).
Jordan Chiles finished third in the all-around competition with a 56.065, but due to an Olympic rule that limits countries to only two competitors on each individual event, Chiles didn’t qualify to compete for all-around gold.
Though not guaranteed, Chiles’ second-place finish on floor — she scored a 13.866 — likely means she will qualify to compete for a medal on that event.
Carey failed to qualify to defend her gold medal on floor, finishing well behind Biles, Chiles and Lee after stumbling during her routine, but with a 14.433 on vault she will almost assuredly have the opportunity to compete for gold on arguably her best event.
Sixteen-year-old Hezly Rivera — in her first-ever Olympic competition — managed to score a 13.900 on bars and a 12.633 on beam.
All told, though Team USA wasn’t perfect, the Americans still managed to set themselves up to compete for gold throughout the coming week.
The American women did not stop to speak to reporters in the mixed zone after the competition — which was planned — but spirits appeared to be high, all things considered, per USA Today.
And any concerns about Biles’ ability to compete going forward were quashed rather quickly as well.
Her coach Cecile Landi told reporters that Biles’ calf felt better as the competition wore on and that there isn’t any question that she will compete in the coming days.
“Never in her mind,” Landi said. “... Just a little pain in her calf. She felt it a little bit on floor. And we taped it to kind of (tighten) it up.”
That Biles was able to compete as well as she did was impressive, though.
Said Chellsie Memmel, the technical lead for the U.S. women, “What she was able to do ... was remarkable.”
The same could be said for Carey, who spoke with Bregman to reassure her fans that she hadn’t been undone by nerves.
“I had, like, no energy today and didn’t have a sense of what was going on in my head,” Carey said. “So, I just kind of wanted people to know that so they know that there’s actually something wrong.”
Team USA will be back in action Tuesday for the women’s team final — which starts at 10:15 a.m. MDT.
Individual medaling opportunities will follow later in the week and into the following week, with the all-around final slated to be held Thursday, Aug. 1, at 10:15 a.m. MDT.
Three more qualifying subdivisions will be held Sunday, with the final competition of the day beginning at 1:10 p.m. MDT.
When all is said and done, the top eight teams, top 24 all-around gymnasts and top eight gymnasts on each event will advance.
