GUAN Chenchen leads 1-2 finish for People's Republic of China on balance beam 

GUAN Chenchen delivered as the final competitor of the women's artistic gymnastics competition at the Tokyo Olympic Games Tuesday (3 August) to win balance beam gold. She finished ahead of teammate TANG Xijing, while 2016 Olympic all-around champion Simone Biles matched her bronze medal from Rio 2016.

After a tense wait, Guan's score, a 14.633, flashed confirming the gold medal. Tang earned a 14.233, while Biles scored a 14.000 to win the bronze.

"I'm very happy," Guan said afterward. "I am very excited and I am very proud to be able to represent my country."

Guan's medal is the first gold an athlete from her country has won in women's gymnastics since DENG Linlin also claimed the balance beam title at London 2012. People's Republic of China gymnasts also finished 1-2 at those Games with SUI Lu taking silver nine years ago.

Biles had qualified to all four of the apparatus finals, scheduled for 1-3 August but eventually withdrew from all but balance beam. Her beam routine Tuesday was the same as she has used throughout the 2021 season, except for a modified dismount. Instead of Biles' usual full or double-twisting double back dismount, she opted for a double pike.

"I hope it sends [the message] that first I did this for me and nobody else because I wanted to compete one more time at the Olympic Games," Biles told Olympics.com. "It's not easy giving up a dream of five years and not getting to do it. It was really, really hard. I've never been in the stands, so I just wasn't used to it so to have one more opportunity to compete meant the world."

Earlier in Tokyo, she withdrew from the team competition after getting lost in midair and from the all-around final entirely to focus on her mental health.

"Definitely bringing a light to the conversation of mental health, it's something that people go through a lot that is kind of pushed under the rug," said Biles when asked whether her seventh Olympic medal or the conversation she has sparked in Tokyo was more important. "I feel like we're not just entertainment, we're humans as well and we have feelings."

On her Instagram story Friday, Biles detailed her struggles in training with the “twisties,” a gymnastics term for when a gymnast’s body and mind seemingly stop working together.

"My mind and body are simply not in sync,” Biles wrote in one of her story slides. "For anyone saying I quit. I didn't quit.”

The 24-year-old also posted now deleted videos showing her getting lost in the air on two attempts at her uneven bars dismount, a double-twisting, double back.

Biles explained she had previously suffered from the phenomenon but only on floor and vault. Tokyo is the first time they have bled into other events.

“They're not fun to deal with," she said. "It's honestly petrifying trying to do a skill... not having your mind and body in sync."