What Happened in Simone Biles’s Vault

TOKYO — Simone Biles lost her way midair while vaulting in the women’s team final on Tuesday, then suddenly exited the competition, saying she wasn’t mentally prepared to compete. Biles’s absence created a bigger opening for the Russians, who won the gold.

Biles had planned to do an Amanar, a difficult vault with two-and-a-half twists. But, she said, she lost her bearings in the air. She completed only one-and-a-half twists, then stumbled out of her landing.

Minutes later, U.S.A. Gymnastics confirmed that Biles had withdrawn from the competition, leaving the United States without its highest-scoring gymnast.

“I just felt like it would be a little bit better to take a back seat, work on my mindfulness,” Biles said after the competition, in which the United States took silver. “I didn’t want to risk the team a medal for, kind of, my screw ups, because they’ve worked way too hard for that.”

Without Biles, Sunisa Lee Nails Uneven Bars

Under intense pressure, Sunisa Lee responded, connecting some of the hardest maneuvers done on the uneven bars. Lee scored a 15.4, which would tie Nina Derwael of Belgium for the highest bars score of the Olympics so far.

Above, Lee is shown doing a front flip, called a piked Jaeger, above the high bar, then immediately going into another flip, a Pak salto, down to the lower bar. At just the right moment, she puts her toes on the bar as her momentum propels her body back to the high bar, completing a half twist midair.

Russia’s Listunova outscores on balance beam

Viktoria Listunova’s Russian teammates were depending on her after two of them fell. She performed difficult acrobatics and beautiful leaps, ending her routine with a roundoff into two flips in a tucked position, shown below.

She lunged backward on the dismount, but her mostly clean routine meant Russia skirted disaster.

U.S. falters on floor exercise

Angelina Melnikova secured the gold for the Russians. She was the last competitor on floor exercise, where Jordan Chiles, who trains with Biles in Texas, fell.

Above, a roundoff and back handspring generated the power for a double layout — two flips with her body outstretched. At the end of the pass, Melnikova bounced back but remained in bounds, avoiding a penalty.

Without Biles, the Americans needed to be nearly perfect, and they weren’t. They ranked lower than in 2016 on each apparatus.

Before the pandemic, the Americans’ high scores at the World Championships allowed them to handily beat the Russians in team events.

These Games have made clear that Russia has closed the gap with the United States. In the qualifying round, the Russians beat the Americans by over a point.

“We knew the Russians were that good, so no surprises,” said Jess Graba, Lee’s coach.

The U.S. gymnasts have won a medal in every Olympic team event since 1992, winning the gold three times. They last won silver in 2008.

Russia had never won an Olympic team event as an independent nation until now, though the Soviet Union had dominated the sport for decades.