Suni Lee steps up with Simone Biles out but Russia wins gymnastics team gold

TOKYO—The look on Simone Biles’ face said everything. After she landed poorly on a vault during the first rotation of Tuesday’s team finals at the Tokyo Olympics, the U.S. gymnast appeared worried, rather than the supremely confident expression she usually wears.

Biles immediately went to coach Cecile Landi. Within a few minutes, the superstar left the competition floor at Ariake Gymnastics Centre, her competition over. Without the gymnast considered the greatest of all time, the U.S. women were unable to repeat as Olympic team champions, finishing second to the resurgent Russians in a stunning upset.

Russia finished with a team score of 169.528. The U.S. scored 166.096 for the silver, and Great Britain took bronze with 164.096. It marked the first time in a decade that the U.S. did not win the gold medal in an Olympics or world championships team competition.

In a statement, USA Gymnastics said Biles withdrew because of a medical issue. “She will be assessed daily to determine medical clearance for future competitions,” the statement said, leaving doubt as to whether she will compete in the all-around finals Thursday or the event finals later in the Games. Biles is the defending Olympic champ in all-around, vault and floor exercise

Suni Lee of St. Paul, Grace McCallum of Isanti and Jordan Chiles, who trains with Biles in Texas, were left to try and beat the much-improved Russians by themselves.

Lee performed her highest-difficulty uneven bars routine, with a 6.8 degree of difficulty, and nailed it for a huge score of 15.400. McCallum—the only U.S. gymnast besides Biles who was originally scheduled to do all four events—led off each event for the Americans and put out a cool, steady performance.

The U.S. trailed by as much as 2 ½ points but pulled within .800 before the final rotation, floor exercise. They had a major mistake when Chiles’ feet slipped out from under her on the landing of a tumbling pass, causing her to fall backward. She got a score of 11.700, all but ending the U.S. hopes.

Russia posted the highest score of the qualifying round, the first time since 2010 the U.S. had not topped the standings in team preliminaries or finals at an Olympics or world championships. The Russians, who finished more than five points behind the Americans at the 2019 world championships, were elegant and precise. The Americans were error-prone.

None of the U.S. athletes spoke with media after Sunday’s qualifying. USA Gymnastics high performance team coordinator Tom Forster said he hoped the sub-par performance “might be a great awakening for us,” saying the mistakes were caused by fixable mental errors.

The U.S. started on vault Tuesday, usually one of Biles’ best events. The last of the three U.S. gymnasts to compete, she was expected to do an Amanar, which has 2 ½ twists. Instead, Biles performed a Yurchenko 1 ½, a much lower-difficulty vault.

She landed in a crouch, nearly sitting down before lunging forward and earning a score of only 13.766. As the U.S. moved to the next rotation, bars, Biles left the floor. Chiles—who was supposed to sit out the uneven bars—began warming up.

After a few minutes, Biles returned, followed by a gaggle of TV cameras. Her right foot was wrapped, and her teammates surrounded her with hugs. Biles took off her hand grips used for bars routines and put on a warmup jacket, her night over.

The withdrawal meant Lee, who was supposed to perform only on bars and beam, also had to compete on floor exercise. First, she needed to give the U.S. her best on bars. The Russians led the team standings by 1.067 points after the first rotation and stood to widen the margin with their mastery of the bars.

Lee did her job magnificently. She made her intensely difficult routine look easy, stuck the landing and was wrapped in a big hug from coach Jess Graba. McCallum and Chiles hit their bars routines, too, but the Russians outscored them by 1.433 points on that apparatus to extend their lead to 2.5 points.

Biles stayed with her teammates, cheering them on and dancing with them on the sidelines. The Russians gave them an opening on beam. The leadoff gymnast, Vladislava Urazova, fell off the beam, had several other wobbles and took a step on her dismount. Angelina Melnikova, the team captain, also came off the beam.

Lee, Chiles and McCallum all hit their routines again. That closed the gap to .800 of a point going into the final rotation, floor exercise.