Simone Biles was determined not to let the 2024 Paris Olympics be a repeat of Tokyo as she crawled on the floor in pain to approach the vault in women's gymnastics' first competition Sunday.
Aiming to avoid putting pressure on her leg due to a calf injury, Biles stood tall and proceeded to nail her exceptional vault routine. After her performance, she hopped down the steps on one foot.
The calf issue hardly slowed her down. Biles posted the highest score on floor and vault — both after the injury — as she tries to add to her career total of seven Olympic medals.
The woman who has been saying over and over and over this isn't 2021 went out and proved it, shaking off what U.S. coach Cecile Landi described as a minor calf issue to post the top score in the all-around and put whatever lingering ghosts there may be from Tokyo in the rearview mirror.
Biles' all-around score of 59.566 was the highest score that any gymnast has earned in an international competition this Olympic cycle, according to NBC Olympics.
In the moments after her stunning debut, Biles' coach revealed what exactly happened to the star U.S. gymnast.
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Biles' coach Cecile Landi said the gymnast "felt 'a little pain in her calf'" while warming up on floor. Landi said there were no current plans for Biles to withdraw from any competitions or change her routines and said she wasn't concerned about her performance going forward.
Biles appeared to be limping before her second event, a floor routine, at the 2024 Olympics Sunday morning.
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During her 30-second warmup before her floor performance, Biles was seen telling her coach "uh oh, not good," after prepping her signature skill "the Biles" for her floor routine.
Biles was heard saying "it's really bad," before she left the area with staff. She returned to her team a short time later still limping as medical personnel taped her leg.
"It hurts to push off," she was heard saying.
Landi said the issue popped up a couple of weeks ago and described it as minor.
Landi and her husband Laurent — who have long served as Biles' personal coach in Texas — encouraged her to take a breath and keep going as Laurent applied heavy doses of tape to her leg.
“We told her to remind herself, like she’s capable of doing it,” Landi said. “She knows she’s got it and it's OK and then she did. So, really excited for her.”
She saluted the crowd after her dismount on uneven bars, her final event. She hopped off the podium, danced with good friend Jordan Chiles and has no plans to stop her quest for gold in Tuesday's team final and Thursday's individual all-around.
"It was pretty amazing, 59.5,” Landi said. “Not perfect so she can improve even (but) ... just really good.”
Landi said Biles' leg was feeling better as she moved through the events and expects her to be available going forward.
The only event final Biles is likely to miss is uneven bars, where she opted not to attempt a unique skill she submitted to the International Gymnastics Federation on Friday. She can still opt to do it during the team final, opening the door for it to be entered into the sport's Code of Points with her name attached.
