By Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber
PARIS (Reuters) – Italian gymnast Alice D’Amato emerged as the surprise champion on the balance beam at the Paris Olympics on Monday after favourite Simone Biles surprisingly fell off the 10cm wide apparatus during the final to finish out of the medals.
With a clean routine devoid of any major errors, D’Amato earned 14.366 points, enough to win her gold.
Zhou Yaqin of China made a solid start her routine but she had to bend over and grab the beam with both hands during her jump sequence to prevent herself from falling. Despite the error, she clinched silver with 14.100 points.
D’Amato’s compatriot Manila Esposito finished third, 0.1 of a point behind her Chinese rival.
Biles, the most decorated gymnast of all-time, was one of four finalists to fall off the apparatus on Monday.
The American, a two-time Olympic bronze medallist and a four-time world champion on the balance beam, finished a disappointing fifth with 13.100.
Biles has already claimed three gold medals at the Paris Olympics — in the team event, the all-around and the vault. She will chase one final medal in the floor exercise later on Monday.
(Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber, Chang-Ran Kim, Karen Braun and Rory Carroll; editing by Pritha Sarkar)
