Paris Olympics, Day 10: Biles closes with her 11th career medal: a silver in the floor exercise

PARIS (AP) — Simone Biles concluded her final day at the Paris Olympics with more trophies for the greatest gymnast of her generation.

The woman who a couple of years ago didn’t even believe she’d be here will leave Paris — and perhaps her last Olympics — with three golds and a silver, earned Monday when she placed second in the floor exercise.

It was the first time in her career that Biles did not win the floor exercise at a major competition. She finished second behind Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade. Third place went to American gymnast Jordan Chiles, who was bumped up to bronze when American coaches called for a review of the difficulty level of her routine.

The review changed her score enough to move her to the podium, where the three Black women posed together four days after Biles, Andrade and Sunisa Lee, who is Hmong-American, stood in the same spot after the all-around competition. Their collective success is a symbol of a sport that is becoming more diverse and more inclusive at the highest level.

Before the floor exercise, Biles and Lee failed to medal on the balance beam. Both gymnasts made mistakes and raised questions about whether the Paris organizers’ decision not to play music during the events created an eerie, disturbing silence.

Biles is now an 11-time Olympic medalist and hasn’t ruled out trying to compete in Los Angeles in 2028.

A look at some of the highlights from Day 10 of the Paris Olympics:

Lyles makes easy progress during a 200-degree heat day

Noah Lyles had no problems in his first 200-meter heat. It was a drama-free 20.19-second run that had become routine. So nothing like his 0.005-second photo-finish victory in the 100 meters on Sunday night.

Lyles beat defending Olympic champion Andre De Grasse of Canada in the 200 by 0.11 seconds.

Lyles is attempting to become the first man to achieve a double since Usain Bolt did it for a third time at the Rio Games in 2016. Carl Lewis is the last American to do it in the 100-200 meters, back in 1984 in Los Angeles.

Also advancing in the 200 were Americans Erriyon Knighton (20.00) and Kenny Bednarek, who ran 19.97 and could well be Lyles’ biggest rival in Thursday’s final.

Valarie Allman claimed her second consecutive gold in the women’s discus throw, a title she also won at the Tokyo Games.

Allman fouled her first attempt, as the discus went out of bounds on the right side, but took the lead on her second attempt with a throw of 68.74. She put the competition completely out of reach with a 69.50 on her fourth attempt.

Keely Hodgkinson also gave Britain its first athletics gold medal of the Paris Olympics by winning the women’s 800m final.

The victory made Hodgkinson, 22, only the third British woman to win Olympic gold in the 800 metres, joining Anne Packer at the 1964 Tokyo Games and Kelly Holmes in Athens in 2004.

United States has mixed results in beach volleyball

Two U.S. teams fell on the sand at the Eiffel Tower Stadium, with Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss losing to Canada in the women’s quarterfinals just hours after Chase Budinger and Miles Evans lost to Norway in the men’s.

Only Miles Evans and Andy Benesh advanced on the day, joining Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes in the elite eight.

Kloth and Nuss are ranked second in the world, and Nuss said she was “definitely a little heartbroken.”

Brandie Wilkerson and Melissa Humana-Paredes defeated Nuss and Kloth 21-19, 21-18, leaving the country that has won four of the last five women’s gold medals with just one team in the draw.

Budinger, a former NBA player, and Evans lost in straight sets to reigning Olympic champion Norway. In Paris, Germany’s Laura Ludwig, a five-time Olympian and Rio gold medalist, was eliminated, and Herrera, 42, has said she will retire.

Swimming in the Seine

The River Seine was ruled safe enough to swim in and Olympic triathletes took to the murky waters for the mixed relay event after organisers said bacteria levels in the long-polluted Paris waterway were at acceptable levels.

The plan to hold the swimming portion of triathlons and marathon swimming events on the Seine was ambitious, as swimming in the river, with a few exceptions, has been banned since 1923 because it is too toxic.

Water quality tests were reviewed on Sunday evening and results indicated that water quality at the triathlon site had improved over the preceding hours and was within World Triathlon’s required limits on Monday morning.

In a close final sprint, Germany won the gold medal in the team relay. The United States took silver and Great Britain the bronze.

The decision to allow the event to go ahead with swimming in the Seine came after Belgium’s Olympic committee announced Sunday that it was withdrawing its team from the mixed relay triathlon after one of its competitors who swam in the river last week fell ill. Three other triathletes, out of more than 100 who competed in the men’s and women’s races last Wednesday, fell ill in the following days, though it is unclear whether the water was to blame.

Spain reaches its second consecutive Olympic football final

Juanlu Sánchez came on as a substitute to lead Spain to a record fifth Olympic men’s football final. Sánchez scored in the 85th minute at the Stade de Marseille to seal a 2-1 victory over Morocco.

Spain will face hosts France in the final on Friday. France advanced after beating Egypt 3-1 in the second semi-final.

Morocco went into the break with a 1-0 lead after tournament top scorer Soufiane Rahimi converted a penalty in the 37th minute.

Spain equalised in the 65th minute after Fermin Lopez showed some pace in the area and fired a left-footed shot into the bottom corner. It was the Barcelona midfielder’s fourth goal of the tournament and his over-the-top celebrations earned him a yellow card after kicking the corner flag and breaking it in two.

It was López’s assist that allowed Sánchez to score the winning goal with a low shot into the far corner.

Spain, which won gold at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, lost in the final of the Tokyo Games three years ago to Brazil.

British cyclists set world record in women’s team sprint

British trio Katy Marchant, Sophie Capewell and Emma Finucane broke the world record in the women’s team sprint by beating New Zealand in a head-to-head gold medal showdown to open the track cycling programme.

In the three-lap race, the British trio fell behind Rebecca Petch, Shaane Fulton and Ellesse Andrews after the first 250 metres. But they quickly pulled ahead after the second lap and then stormed into the final to finish in 45.196 seconds, winning their nation’s first medal inside the Vélodrome National de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines.

Despite their proud sprint tradition, Britons had repeatedly failed to make the podium since the event’s debut in 2008.

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By Jenna Fryer, AP National Writer

For more coverage of the Paris Olympics, visit https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games.