Olympics-Gymnastics-Italy's D'Amato claims balance beam gold, Biles finishes fifth

By Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber

PARIS (Reuters) -Italian gymnast Alice D'Amato emerged as the surprise champion on the balance beam at the Paris Olympics on Monday after American favourite Simone Biles unexpectedly fell off the 10cm wide apparatus during the final to finish out of the medals.

D'Amato had ranked only seventh during the qualifying competition but after performing a routine devoid of any major errors on Monday, she emerged triumphant with a score of 14.366 points.

The 21-year-old dropped to her knees and sobbed uncontrollably when she realised she had just clinched her first Olympic title.

Zhou Yaqin of China, the runner up to Biles on balance beam at last year's world championships, had been the top qualifier for the final after eclipsing her American rival by a razor thin margin eight days ago.

Zhou made a solid start her routine but she had to bend over and grab the beam with both hands during her jump sequence to prevent herself falling off. Despite the error, she captured silver with 14.100 points.

D'Amato's compatriot Manila Esposito finished third, 0.1 of a point behind her Chinese rival.

Biles, the most decorated gymnast of all-time, was one of four finalists to fall off the apparatus on Monday.

The 27-year-old was had been expected to perform a sequence featuring handspring layout-layout but and she aborted the series after the first layout and loud gasps could be heard around Bercy Arena as she lost her balance and slipped off.

The American, a two-time Olympic bronze medallist and a four-time world champion on the balance beam, finished a disappointing fifth with 13.100.

Biles' teammate Sunisa Lee, the 2020 all around Olympic champion, crashed to the mat during her flight sequence and finished sixth.

"It was just crazy to kind of see how everybody was going down like that," Lee said. "But I think it's just because there's just so much pressure. You could feel the tension in the room."

Lee said the absence of music in the background during the balance beam final and an eerily quiet crowd who was shushing attempts to cheer had unnerved some gymnasts

"Me and Simone were like, 'why are they shushing? Like we're just trying to cheer," Lee said.

Biles has already claimed three gold medals at the Paris Olympics -- in the team event, the all-around and the vault. She will chase one final medal in the floor exercise later on Monday.

(Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber, Chang-Ran Kim, Karen Braun and Rory Carroll; editing by Pritha Sarkar)