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Despite a calf injury, Simone Biles made her return to the Summer Olympics on Sunday and dominated a gymnastics qualifying session, ended with Team USA in the lead.
Team USA – including returning Olympians Jade Carey and Jordan Chile – finished Sunday’s qualification session with an impressive score of 172.296, putting the group of athletes at the front of the pack heading into the all-around final on Thursday.
Biles, 27, delivered near-flawless performances on the balance beam, vault, floor and uneven bars, despite appearing to injure her calf while warming up for the second round of qualifying events in the Bercy Arena. Footage of Biles during warm-ups show her at one point crawling back from the vault and then hopping on her right leg toward the edge of the mat, where she told a teammate, “I’m gonna need a wheelchair.” Despite the injury (and a heavily taped ankle), Biles performed an impressive vault routine that featured her trademark Yurchenko double pike, earning a score of 15.8.
Women’s gymnastics coach Cecille Landi later told reporters that Biles had tweaked her calf several weeks ago and was on the mend during the training that led up to the games, adding that she was healing and had no plans to leave the competition.
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