The women's gymnastics balance beam final saw neither Simone Biles nor Suni Lee finish on the podium at the 2024 Paris Olympics, a first for the US since the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Both athletes, capable of winning gold, faced unexpected challenges and fell during their routines, resulting in a tie for fifth place with scores of 13.100 each.

Biles, competing in her third consecutive Olympics, hoped to improve her past performances on the beam, where she had previously won bronze in both Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020. However, she made her first major error on the beam in Paris, falling during her acrobatic series. Despite finishing with her signature dismount, her fall ended her streak of consecutive Olympic medals in the event.

Lee, who performed second, began her routine strong but stumbled and fell during a flip, landing awkwardly and eventually falling off the beam. She completed her routine but was visibly disappointed with her performance.

Italy's Alice D'Amato claimed gold with a score of 14.366, marking her country's first beam gold and her first individual Olympic medal. China's Yaqin Zhou earned silver, while Italy's Manila Esposito took bronze. D'Amato's clean routine stood out among the finalists, four of whom, including Biles and Lee, fell during their performances.

Lee, who had won bronze on the uneven bars earlier in the competition, expressed her disappointment but maintained a positive outlook.

"I would say it definitely didn't go how I wanted it to," she said. "I don't even know what happened in my series. I thought it was straight on and then all of a sudden I was on the ground. I'm just really disappointed because I feel like I have so much more to prove on beam, and every single time I get to the final, I can just never do the routine that I want to do, but that's just the mental side of it. So I just need to go and do the work and put all the effort in and maybe one day you'll have it."

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