dpa
Paris
US star Simone Biles failed in her bid to become the first women’s gymnast to win five golds at one Olympics when she fell off the beam and finished second on the floor as the Paris programme wrapped up on Monday.
Biles had already won the team, all-around and vault competition in the French capital to go with her four golds from Rio 2016, a superb return to the Games after mental health problems left her without gold in Tokyo three years ago.
But her chance of matching Larisa Latynina’s (1956-1964) gymnastics record of nine golds across Games in Paris ended after falling off the beam and finishing fifth as Italy’s Alice D’Amato triumphed.
She had been bidding to join the Soviet Union’s Latynina and American swimmer Katie Ledecky as the greatest female Olympian with nine.
She is stuck on seven after Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade beat her to floor gold because the American stepped out of the official area when landing two powerful tumbles.
“It’s been up-and-down emotions. I couldn’t be more proud of the performances that I put on,” Biles said. “It’s been a long week, competing several times, so I’m not mad about how I performed. It’s a lot of work and it’s paid off.”
Biles could be tempted to return for a home Games in Los Angeles in 2028 given she is still only 27 and has said “never say never.”
Tokyo vault champion Andrade, who took bronze in team and silver on vault and all-around in Paris, scored 14.166 to leave Biles second on 14.133 with her 11th Olympic medal.
Bronze went to American Jordan Chiles after she successfully appealed against her marks in an original fifth-place finish, at the expense of Romania’s Ana Barbosa.
The artistic gymnastics programme has ended with the US topping the medals table thanks to the three golds, one silver and six bronze.
Italian women wow in Paris D’Amato earlier seized Italy’s first Olympic women’s gymnastics gold in a dramatic beam final which saw several falls.
D’Amato, part of the Italian team which took a surprise silver behind Biles and the Americans last week, won with an elegant 14.366.
“If I didn’t have any words after winning silver in the team competition, I definitely don’t have any words right now,” she said.
China’s Zhou Yaqin was second while Manila Esposito took bronze for the Italians as Andrade was surprisingly placed only in fourth.
An angry Biles, heard criticizing the crowd and the long wait for marks, was still fifth despite her fall given her difficulty level.
Errors also marred the men’s high bars final. Japanese gymnast Shinnosuke Oka swung his way to Olympic gold, adding to his team and all-around titles in Paris.
The 20-year-old came into the Games as an unknown quantity but leaves the Bercy Arena as the male gymnast with the most golds - having also taken bronze in the parallel bars earlier.
His horizontal bars routine was arguably the easiest but he performed it superbly to prevail on his execution score - having levelled on 14.533 points overall with silver medallist Angel Barajas, 17.
China’s Zhang Boheng botched his landing but hung on for bronze alongside Taiwan’s Tang Chia-Hung, with China’s Su Weide and Cypriot Marios Georgiou also having problems with their high bars dismount.
Tin Srbic of Croatia and Japan’s Takaaki Sugino also both fell as routines become more complex but risky in the modern sport. Tokyo and world champion Daiki Hashimoto did not reach the final.
Chinese redemption in the end Zou Jingyuan earlier won men’s parallel bars gold for the second straight Games as China again eased the pain of team silver. His near perfect routine and flawless landing earned him 16.200.
Ukraine’s Illia Kovtun, who had never medalled before on the bars at Olympics or worlds, took silver on 15.500 and Oka claimed bronze.
Last week China threw away gold late on and let Japan in during the team event, the first medal of the Paris gymnastics, but they finish with two gold in two days after Zou followed Liu Yang’s rings gold.
Zou said: “I wanted to perfect my landing, which I didn’t achieve yesterday (in the rings), and today I did. The joy I felt wasn’t just about winning the gold; it was my satisfaction with my gymnastics.”
