NOTE: Spoilers below. Women’s gymnastics preliminaries will be rebroadcast in primetime on NBC 5 at 6 p.m.
Simone Biles and Suni Lee will make history by representing the United States in the individual all-around final at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Biles, the 2016 Olympic individual all-around champion, and Li, the 2020 Olympic individual all-around champion, will take to the stage on Thursday, August 1, in what will be the first time that two Olympic individual all-around champions will face off in an Olympic individual all-around final.
Biles and Lee finished first and third, respectively, on Sunday, with Biles finishing with 59.566 points and Lee finishing with 56.132 points.
Lee earned himself second place all-around for Team USA with a score of 14.866 for his Monster Bar routine, beating teammate Jordan Chiles by just 0.067 points.
Chile, which came in fourth with 56.065 points, was not able to compete in the individual all-around final due to a rule that only two athletes from each country may compete in the individual all-around final.
Defending all-around medalist Suni Lee competed and performed well, ensuring she had a chance to defend her title. The three-time Olympic medalist will also compete in the uneven bars and balance beam finals alongside teammate Simone Biles.
Biles set a new women’s gymnastics record despite a dramatic debut in which she battled a calf injury.
During her 30-second warm-up before her floor exercise, Biles was seen telling her coach, “Uh, not good,” after preparing her signature “Biles” move for her floor exercise performance.
Biles’ coach, Cecil Lundy, said Biles “felt a little bit of calf pain” while warming up on the floor. Lundy said Biles has no plans to withdraw from competition or change her routine at this time and is not worried about her future performances.
The pain didn’t faze Biles, who is widely considered the greatest gymnast of all time.
The U.S. women’s gymnastics team finished in first place after the first two divisions with 172.296 points, qualifying for the team finals.
The top eight teams advancing to the finals are ranked as follows:
Ranking Team Score 1 USA 172.296 2 Italy 166.86 13 China 166.628 4 Brazil 166.499 5 Japan 162.196 6 Canada 161.563 7 Great Britain 160.830 8 Romania 159.497
Team USA will compete for medals in the team final on Tuesday, July 30 at 11:15 AM CST on Peacock with a primetime rerun at 7 PM CST. The individual all-around will take place on Thursday, August 1 at 11:15 AM CST on Peacock with a primetime rerun at 7 PM CST.
