Simone Biles Gave Sunisa Lee a Big Hug After Brutal Fall in Balance Beam Finals

Kristen Wong | Aug 5, 2024

Jack Gruber-USA TODAY Sports

The penultimate event in women’s gymnastics at the Paris Olympics did not end well for Simone Biles and Sunisa Lee.

Biles and Lee had recently claimed medals in two prior individual events at the Games, with Biles taking home gold in the vault final and Lee snatching away bronze in the uneven bars final, but Monday’s balance beam event was less kind to both gymnasts.

Lee started her routine off strong before stumbling on the beam and ultimately falling off. She got back on the beam and finished with a score of 13.100, good for sixth in the competition.

After Lee’s dismount at the end of her routine, her coaches immediately came to her support as she stepped off the mat. As did her fellow competitor and compatriot Biles, who sweetly gave her a warm embrace and offered a few words of encouragement.

After her routine in the beam final, Simone Biles was one of the first to encourage Suni Lee. 🥹 #ParisOlympics

📺 E! and Peacock pic.twitter.com/WuoWZiTdjH

— On Her Turf (@OnHerTurf) August 5, 2024

Biles wouldn’t fare much better later in the rotation. The 10-time Olympic medalist landed too powerfully after one of her flips and also took a tumble off the beam. Biles finished with the same score as Lee, 13.100, and placed fifth overall.

Italy’s Alice D’Amato won gold, China’s Yaqin Zhou won silver and D’Amato’s teammate, Manila Esposito, won bronze. Monday’s competition marked the first women’s artistic gymnastics event in Paris in which no Americans finished on the podium.

“I was telling everyone like, I don’t know if I can do this beam final,” Lee told reporters after the event. “I’m so tired and then I felt like I hadn’t done beam in a while just because I can’t keep track of my days while I’ve been here. But the pressure was definitely on today.”