Simone Biles Botches Maneuver on Uneven Bars, Making ‘1st Big Mistake’

Olympic gymnast Simone Biles botched a difficult maneuver on the uneven bars during the women’s gymnastics individual all-around competition in Paris on August 1, putting her gold medal quest in question.

However, Biles redeemed herself with a strong balance beam routine and then a 15.066 score in the floor exercise to take home the gold medal in the all-around individual competition. Fans marveled at the “nearly flawless” floor routine, calling it “spectacular” and “insane.”

Biles’ earlier mistake on the uneven bars set up the floor routine as the determining factor between whether she or Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade would win the all-around gold medal. Andrade won the silver due to the strength of Biles’ performance on the floor.

According to the Associated Press, on the uneven bars, Biles “botched a transition from the upper bar to the lower bar,” which “messed with her momentum and forced her to muscle her way back into her routine.” AP called it her “first big mistake of the Olympics.”

Still, the NBC announcer marveled during the live broadcast at the fact that Biles did not touch the floor or fall off the bars during the sequence, attributing that to her skills but also her height. A taller gymnast might have fallen, the announcer said.

At the halfway point, the mistake put Biles’ gold in peril.

“Small margins: At the halfway point of the Women’s All-Around final at #Paris2024, Rebeca Andrade 🇧🇷 leads Kaylia Nemour 🇩🇿 by 0.2. Simone Biles 🇺🇸 sits third after a mistake on Uneven Bar but is still just 0.267 out of first place. #ArtisticGymnastics #Paris2024 #Olympics,” the International Gymnastics Federation wrote after the uneven bars. Biles has more room to make some mistakes because her routines score so highly in difficulty.

However, she gained some ground back with a strong performance on the balance beam, meaning the floor exercise was pivotal. The beam performance propelled Biles back into first place, although she was competing mostly with Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade for the gold. Andrade ended up with the silver medal and the U.S. gymnast Suni Lee won the bronze.

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Social Media Users Weighed in on the ‘Small Blunder on the Uneven Bars’

Commentators on social media agreed that the uneven bars was not Biles’ best routine.

“Barring a slip from someone else or a floor routine that brings down the house, we might be about to have a surprise all-around champion. That uneven bars routine really messed things up for Simone Biles,” journalist Khari D. Thompson wrote on X.

Another user wrote, “Small blunder on uneven bars by Simone Biles has her behind Brazil’s Andrade w/ beam & floor to go. She had a difficulty cushion goin in but bars put her behind. This [expletive] bout to end crazy 😭😂🫣”

Some fans agreed with the NBC announcer that Biles’ had saved the routine through her athleticism. “I have no idea how the hell anybody does anything in gymnastics, but I have especially negative idea how Simone Biles just saved that uneven bars routine. That was super freaking human,” wrote one.

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Simone Biles Looked ‘Visibly Annoyed’ After the Uneven Bars Routine, Reports Say

The AP reported that Biles “was visibly annoyed as she made her way off the podium” after the uneven bars routine.

She scored 13.733 in the routine, placing her briefly behind Andrade, AP reported.

According to AP, the floor competition would decide the gold after Biles posted a 14.566 on the balance beam.

“Simone Biles OMG,” another X user wrote. “She might’ve not liked her own performance there but the landing was perfection. Crazy how she avoided the floor on her extra swing on the uneven bars.”

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