After marching out on the Ariake Gymnastics Centre, Simone Biles, 24, had a scary warm up.
She appeared to have been lost in the air, which led to her opening out after being able to do just one-and-a-half twists out of the two-and-a-half she intended.
Meanwhile, the reigning Olympic champion scored 13.733 in the competition due to the same error.
Biles had a brief discussion with coach Cecile Landi and the USA Gymnastics athletic trainer, after which the trainer and Biles left the field of play and upon their return, the rest of the team Jordan Chiles, Grace McCallum and Sunisa Lee were already in their one-touch warm up.
The USA Gymnastics confirmed later the withdrawal and official event start lists were updated to reflect the change.
A statement from the governing body reads “Simone has withdrawn from the team final competition due to a medical issue. She will be assessed daily to determine medical clearance for future competitions.”
Hence, in her absence, the Russian team under the flag of Russia Olympics Committee defeated the USA to win the Gold medal.
