- Simone Biles and Suni Lee were among the four gymnasts who fell in the final
- The Americans finished the competition in fifth and sixth place respectively.
- Italy’s Alice D’Amato took home the gold medal ahead of China’s Zhou Yaqin
Some Olympic fans have taken a conspiratorial view of the balance beam final, where four of the eight competitors, including Simone Biles and Suni Lee, fell during their routines.
The event is known to be a precarious task, as gymnasts attempt to complete gravity-defying feats while maintaining balance on the beam suspended four feet in the air.
On Monday, Biles lost her fourth Olympic gold medal in Paris after falling during the final. There was also pain for fellow American Suni Lee, whose medal hopes were dashed when she also fell off the apparatus during her routine.
A video that has been circulating on social media has caused some fans to protest after the four athletes who failed to stay on the beam appeared to lose their balance at a similar spot on the beam.
“Now… they all landed in the same spot on the beam,” one follower wrote on X. Another said, “So the best gymnasts in the world all landed in the exact same spot? Definitely not suspicious.”
Simone Biles was one of four gymnasts to fall off the beam in a bizarre final on Monday
Her teammate Suni Lee also saw her medal hopes dashed after falling off the plank during her routine.
Some fans on social media have become convinced that something fishy is at play after seeing images of the falls on social media.
“Someone has tampered with the beam, no doubt,” said a third observer. A fourth joked: “Someone did witchcraft, because there’s no way they ALL fell in exactly the same place.”
Biles’ score was a long time coming, but when it did, her total of 13.100 wasn’t enough to finish in the top three. She commented on the “weird beam final” after the event’s conclusion and hinted that the atmosphere might have been to blame for the errors.
“The beam final is always the most stressful,” the 27-year-old said. “We usually have music or background noise, whatever. We do better in noisy environments because it feels more like a workout.”
“People started clapping and then started shushing each other, louder and louder, but then they should be silenced because they are louder. It was really weird and awkward.
“We asked several times for music or background noise. I’m not quite sure what happened. It’s not our favorite, none of us liked it. Yeah, it was a weird beam final.”
Eurosport commentator and former British gymnast Danusia Francis suggested the chosen manufacturer could have been to blame.
The 27-year-old finished the competition in fifth place and was unable to add to her medal tally.
Some fans believe the beam has been “tampered with,” while one follower joked that there is “witchcraft” at play.
He said: “The beam looks awfully slippery today. Maybe they thought these girls were the best in the world (and made it smaller),” he joked.
‘The equipment is Gymnova. My personal preference as a gymnast is the one I like least. It is possible that these gymnasts train with different brands of equipment.’
Italy’s Alice D’Amato and Manila Esposito took gold and bronze respectively, while China’s Zhou Yaqin won silver.