Olympic updates: Biles claims silver in floor final, Lyles returns in 200m
Written by I Dig SportsSimone Biles competed for the final time at the 2024 Paris Games on Monday, winning silver in the floor final. Earlier in the day, she and Suni Lee competed in the beam final, but both fell and ended up out of the medals.
Biles has won three gold medals to date in Paris, bringing her career total to seven. Although Biles has not confirmed whether she will compete in the 2028 Los Angeles Games, she said "never say never" Saturday.
After winning gold in the men's 100-meter final, Noah Lyles returns to the track for Round 1 of the men's 200 meters. Since 2022, Lyles hasn't lost a race in the 200 meters at the world championships or Olympics. If Lyles wins the 200m, he'll become just the third man to win the 100 meters and 200 meters at a single Olympics -- Usain Bolt (three times) and Carl Lewis in 1984 are the only others to do so, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
On the sand or indoors, a handful of America's volleyball teams compete in knockout round play. Chase Budinger and Miles Evans face Norway's Christian Sørum and Anders Mol, who won gold in Tokyo, in the round of 16. The U.S. men's volleyball team plays Brazil in the quarterfinals after undefeated pool play.
Here's what to look out for Monday.
Olympics medal tracker | Schedule
9:48 a.m. ET -- Ex-NBA vet Budinger & Evans fall in beach volleyball round of 16
The Olympic medal dreams of Chase Budinger, the NBA veteran-turned-beach volleyball player, and his partner Miles Evans came to an end -- for 2024, anyway -- on Monday.
Playing Norway's Anders Berntsen Mol and Christian Sandlie Sørum-- the defending gold medalists -- in the round of 16, the Americans were the overwhelming crowd favorites at the packed Eiffel Tower Stadium, but they simply were no match for their more seasoned opponents. As their family members and friends held up signs (Evans' mom had one that read, "That's my boy!") and waved American flags, Budinger and Evans fell in straight sets, 21-16, 21-14.
With the loss, the two wrapped up their Olympic debut tied for ninth place.
Budinger, 36, and Evans, 34, had advanced to the round of 16 after winning their lucky loser match against Australia's Thomas Hodges and Zachery Schubert on Saturday.
Before Monday's match, Budinger said he would be satisfied with the outcome regardless, as long as they played to the best of their ability.
"Our last two matches we just weren't ourselves, and it felt good to get back to being ourselves," Budinger said Saturday after the victory over the Australians. "If we can continue doing that, I'll be happy, no matter what happens after this." -- D'Arcy Maine
9:41 a.m. -- Rebeca Andrade wins floor; Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles earn silver and bronze
Simone Biles closed out her Olympics with a silver medal on floor. She was electrifying in the final gymnastics competition of the Paris Games, but she stepped out of bounds twice with both feet during her performance and earned a 14.133 after .6 of deductions.
She stuck one of the best triple doubles -- the Biles II -- and had the crowd on their feet throughout. But Brazil's Rebeca Andrade edged Biles with a 14.166 for gold.
Jordan Chiles, who was seeking her first individual Olympic medal, landed a clean routine but initially was awarded 13.666, which placed her fifth. She was the last performer of the meet and was visibly disappointed with her score. After an inquiry, it was changed to a 13.766, which moved her into third.
If you don't know, now you know...
JORDAN CHILES IS THAT GIRL. #ParisOlympics
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When her new score appeared on the big screen, Chiles grabbed her chest and broke out in tears. She and Biles celebrated together before leaving the arena to prepare for the medal ceremony.
Biles leaves Paris the most decorated American gymnast in history with 11 Olympic medals, seven of them gold.
Earlier, in the third event of the day, Japan's Shinnosuke Oka won gold on high bar with 14.533. Angel Barajas of Colombia took silver with an identical 14.533 but a higher execution score. China's Zhang Boheng took bronze with a 13.966. -- Alyssa Roenigk
8:55 a.m. ET -- A double world record in sport climbing
It's one thing to break your own world record at the Olympics. It's another to break it twice.
Polish climber Aleksandra Miroslaw did just that on Monday, surpassing her prior world record on her first qualification run with a time of 6.21 seconds. Not content, however, Miroslaw improved on her second attempt -- breaking her new record with a time of 6.06 seconds.
7:36 a.m. ET -- Alice D'Amato wins gold on beam, Suni Lee and Simone Biles fall
Simone Biles and Suni Lee were back at work on the final day of gymnastics competition at the Paris Olympics. The women competed first on beam, where Biles and Lee were favorites for medals. It was a meet marred by falls.
Lee competed second and had a brilliant routine going before her right foot slipped on her aerial series and she split the beam. She took a hard fall, then remounted and finished her set. After her dismount, she hugged Biles and her coach, Jess Graba, and told them she was OK. Lee finished in sixth with a 13.1 and will leave Paris with a total of six Olympic medals over two Games.
Biles competed second to last and suffered a fall on her series after a remarkable start. She remounted and stuck her landing and then waited an incredibly long time for her score to appear. She was also awarded a 13.1, but with a higher execution score than Lee, which placed her off the podium in fifth.
Simone Biles finishes strong in the balance beam final. #ParisOlympics
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Italy's Alice D'Amato won gold with a score of 14.366. China's Zhou Yagin earned silver with a 14.1, and Italy's Manila Esposito took bronze.
A fabulous performance from Alice D'Amato in the beam final to win Italy's FIRST-EVER gold medal in gymnastics! #ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/0VcYQ8B7IG
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In the first final of the day, China's Zou Jingyuan took gold on parallel bars with a whopping score of 16.200. Illia Kovtun of Ukraine earned silver and Shinnosuke Oka of Japan finished with bronze.
Next up: The floor final, Biles' and Jordan Chiles' last chance to earn medals at the Olympics. Chiles is the only returning member of Team USA who does not have an individual Olympic medal. She qualified third into this final. Now's her chance. -- Alyssa Roenigk
7:31 a.m. ET -- Tom Brady in the house for gymnastics
Everybody wants to see the Simone Biles show -- even Tom Brady. The NFL legend made his way to Bercy Arena to see Biles compete for her fourth gold medal in Paris on beam.
GOAT watching GOAT.
Tom Brady is in the house to see Simone Biles in the #ParisOlympics balance beam final!
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7:04 a.m. ET -- Rai Benjamin glides through first round of 400m hurdles
The 400-meter hurdles have always been second nature for American runner Rai Benjamin, who was a silver medalist in the event at the Tokyo Games. But he's seeking revenge in Paris. His 13-step technique to float through the 10 barriers in the first round led to crossing the line first in his heat with a time of 48.82 seconds to advance to the semifinals.
HOW does Rai Benjamin make the 400m hurdles look this easy? #ParisOlympics
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6:55 a.m. ET -- Team USA gymnastics' 'Golden Girls' ready to roll
Between a return to gold for the women's team and the first team medal in 16 years for the men's squad, it's been an Olympics to remember for USA gymnastics. But Team USA isn't done just yet. Simone Biles won the vault Saturday for her seventh career Olympic gold, and she is back in action Monday looking to repeat the feat in floor and on beam. Biles arrived to Bercy Arena with teammates Jordan Chiles and bars bronze medalist Suni Lee as the team looks to add more hardware to their Paris showing.
Simone Biles, Jordan Chiles and Suni Lee have arrived for the final day of gymnastics finals on E! and Peacock. #ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/i6rMT0Xo8M
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6:23 a.m. ET -- Inside how Omega determines winners in photo finishes
Two hours after the men's 100-meter final, Alain Zobrist, Omega's head timekeeper of the Olympics, is at a party at the Omega House in Paris' Hotel de Poulpry to celebrate the Olympics coming to Los Angeles in 2028. It's a star-studded affair, but Zobrist spent the past hour in a room upstairs speaking with news outlets on the phone and via Zoom to explain how he oversaw a room of judges at Stade de France as they determined who, in fact, was the fastest man in the world Sunday.
"Wait here. Let me get something," Zobrist said after rejoining the party. He returns with an 8 x 11 image from Omega's photo finish camera that represents the finish line over a specific period in the final milliseconds of the race. At first glance, it looks like a photograph of the eight sprinters crossing the finish line. It's a screenshot of the technology the judges used to determine the winner, which has split the runners to show when each man's chest crossed the finish line. According to Olympic rules, the first runner whose torso reaches the closest edge of the finish line is the winner.
Whose toe or knee or head crosses first is irrelevant. The chest is what matters.
"Something said I need to lean, and I was like, 'I'm going to lean,' because it was that kind of race," gold medalist Noah Lyles said after the race.
In the image, red vertical lines are drawn through the "frontest part of each man's chest," according to Zobrist. In real time, it was impossible to determine a winner, but in the image, Lyles' chest clearly is out front. "It's clear. He crossed the line first," Zobrist says. "That's the technology.
"Time doesn't matter," he says. What matters is finish order, and once the judges determine who won, they look at when precisely that happened. Then they compare how that time -- 9.784 seconds -- compares to records that have come before it.
The AI program then breaks down the data even further. A readout distributed by Omega shows Lyles' reaction time of 0.178 seconds was comparatively slow to his competitors, but that he reached his top speed of 43.60 kph (or approximately 27.09 mph) at the 65.1-meter mark. It explains that the race's critical moment came at the end. Lyles maintained his speed for the final 34.8 meters, while silver medalist Kishane Thompson decelerated, allowing Lyles to take the lead just after the 9-second mark. Most importantly, the document ends with a report of Lyles' medal color: gold. -- Alyssa Roenigk