The individual Olympic finals were bronze-coated for NCAA-affiliated gymnasts Jade Carey, Jordan Chiles, and Sunisa Lee.
Former Auburn standout Sunisa Lee, the 2020 Olympic all-around champion, won bronze in the all-around final behind teammate Simone Biles of the U.S. and Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade.
It was a historic podium for women’s gymnastics. Lee was the first Olympic champion to win a second all-around medal at the next Olympic Games since Nadia Comăneci in 1980. Biles made history herself by becoming the first gymnast to win gold all-around medals at two non-consecutive Olympics, as well as the first to win two all-around Olympic gold medals since Věra Čáslavská in 1968. As for Andrade, this was her second consecutive all-around silver medal at the Olympics.
Lee, an NCAA beam champion and all-around silver medalist, trailed the top gymnasts for much of the competition but performed one of her best ever routines on floor, her final event, to clinch bronze ahead of Italy’s Alice D’Amato, who finished in a historic fourth place. Algeria’s Kaylia Nemour was fifth, Canada’s Ellie Black sixth, China’s Qiu Qiyuan seventh, and Germany’s Helen Kevric eighth.
Minnesota’s incoming freshman Ava Stewart of Canada ended her Olympic campaign in 19th place while Alabama alumna Luisa Blanco finished 23rd in what could be her last ever gymnastics meet.
Oregon State rising senior Carey won bronze in the vault final behind the 2016 Olympic champion Biles and the 2020 Olympic champion Andrade. She competed a strong Cheng as her first vault and opted for a solid Yurchenko double twist over her Amanar as her second. Since Carey was the last up in the competition, she knew exactly what she needed to medal and decided to go for execution over difficulty. Carey failed to medal on vault at the Tokyo Olympics after balking on her Cheng, so as she wrote on Instagram, her medal in Paris represented the completion of her “redemption tour.”
Alabama alumna Shallon Olsen finished eighth in the vault final. She struggled with form and landing on her Cheng, and fell on her Yurchenko double twist after her left hand slipped on the table.
Lee won bronze on bars behind Nemour and Qiu. Unlike three years ago in Tokyo, this year Lee had no chance of matching the 7.2 D-score of the top two gymnasts but had enough difficulty and clean execution to finish in third. This was Lee’s second consecutive Olympic bronze medal on bars.
UCLA rising junior Chiles won bronze on floor at the end of a dramatic final, which saw Andrade edging Biles after the latter got a six-tenth neutral deduction for landing two tumbling passes out of bounds. Chiles was the last gymnast competing and had a nervy performance, landing with her shoulders forward both on her opening full-twisting double layout and her double layout dismount. Chiles’ original score landed her in fifth behind Romanian gymnasts Ana Bărbosu and Sabrina Voinea, but after a last-minute inquiry, she was boosted up to third to her delight and Barbosu’s heartbreak. This was Chiles’ first individual Olympic medal.
The beam final was characterized by many falls, including from Lee and Biles. Italy’s Alice D’Amato won the competition with a clean routine ahead of China’s Zhou Yaqin, who won silver despite counting a beam touch, and D’Amato’s teammate Manila Esposito. This was D’Amato’s first Olympic gold medal, as well as Italy’s first ever Olympic gold medal in women’s gymnastics.
As women’s gymnastics comes to an end at the Paris Olympics, NCAA-affiliated gymnasts go home with a total of seven Olympic medals. Carey won gold with the team and bronze on vault, Chiles gold with the team and bronze on floor, and Lee gold with the team and bronze in the all-around and on bars.
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Article by Talitha Ilacqua
