By Rory Carroll and Karen Braun
PARIS (Reuters) – Simone Biles experienced pain in her left calf on the first day of the women’s gymnastics competition at the Paris Olympics on Sunday but the American never considered aborting any of her four apparatus routines, her coaches said.
Biles, a four-time Olympic gold medallist competing in her third Games, was seen limping at times during the qualifying competition and also as she walked past reporters after she had powered the U.S. to the top of the team standings at the Bercy Arena.
“Just a little pain in her calf,” U.S. coach Cecile Landi told reporters.
Biles was also seen leaving the competition area after performing on her first apparatus, the balance beam, but returned to complete her routines on the floor exercise, vault and uneven bars. She had her left leg and ankle tightly strapped before showing off her dazzling skills on her last three apparatus.
She earned the top scores on the floor (14.600) and vault (15.300) and is also the leading qualifier for Thursday’s all around final.
Landi said Biles, 27, felt pain in her calf “a couple weeks ago,” but that it had stopped before resurfacing on Sunday.
It was “never in her mind” that she would not continue her full programme as planned after she began to feel pain.
Chellsie Memmel, the technical lead for the team, said it was too soon to say how serious the injury was.
“I need to speak with Simone and our medical staff first so I’m not going to give you an update now,” Memmel said.
“Just going to make sure she’s okay.”
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Paris, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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