Simone Biles fumes at Olympics crowd as American falls off beam and denied medal
Simone Biles has missed on another Olympic medal.
Simone Biles missed out on winning a fourth gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics after making a critical mistake in the women's balance beam final. The American slipped off the apparatus midway through her routine, with her eventual score of 13.100 only enough for fifth place.
And the 27-year-old appeared irate afterwards, seemingly complaining about the crowd noise during her routine.
Prior to her slipping, shouts of "come on Simone!" could be heard, with other spectators reacting by trying to quieten those people down.
Biles said: "Why are they (fans) shushing? As soon as I am going, they are shushing so much. It's just annoying that the crowd also has to start shushing."
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Her frustration was noted by Craig Heap on BBC commentary, who said: "I have never seen Simone Biles so angry in my life. Something has gone on there.
"She is not happy at all. It just goes to show she is a human being. All the other ladies in that final have made mistakes. She’s not invincible."
Fellow American Sunisa Lee explained: "The crowd shushing us for cheering, we didn't like that because it was just so silent in there. I love hearing my teammates cheer for me.
"That's not how I wanted to end my Olympic games, and I'm sure she didn't want that either.
"We were just talking about how annoying it was to be shushed. We were just both really upset."
Discovery+ is the new home of the Olympics. The streamer is set to broadcast 3,800 hours of sport live from Paris.
Sports fans can get Discovery+ for £3.99 a month until the end of 2024 via Amazon Prime's video channels. This also comes with an Amazon Prime 30-day free trial.
Biles appeared to have made a strong and composed start to her routine. But as she executed a 'double layout', the USA icon with 10 Olympic medals to her name stumbled and was unable to keep her footing.
As she waited for her score, Biles was agitated further as camera crews got close to her. She then entered into a deep discussion with her coach after finding out she could not win a medal.
And straight after the competition, she headed straight for the backstage area. She now has just over an hour before going for gold again in the individual floor final.
It was Italian Alice D'Amato, 21, who took gold despite only qualifying as seventh best. Her score of 14.366 was enough to beat silver medalist Zhou Yaqin, of China, while another Italian in Manila Esposito took bronze.
D'Amato burst into tears when her gold medal was confirmed. But for Biles, the beam event continues to elude her in her illustrious Olympic career.
She already has three gold medals to her name in Paris, and seven overall. But she only won bronze in that discipline in Rio in 2016, and had the same result in Tokyo five years later.
