What and how to watch Simone Biles and Team USA go for gold at the women’s gymnastics team final
Paris (CNN) — It’s the moment everyone’s been waiting for.
A little more than three years after a shocking case of the “twisties” caused her to withdraw from Team USA’s attempt at defending its gymnastics team gold, Simone Biles is back under the bright lights of an Olympic final.
The Americans enter the day as the favorites after cruising through qualifying on Sunday, finishing five points clear of the Italian and Chinese teams. But the day was not without a nerve-wracking moment when Biles aggravated a calf injury and appeared to be in a good deal of pain.
Here’s how and what to watch as Team USA heads to the Bercy Arena in western Paris looking to reclaim their place atop world gymnastics.
How to watch
The gymnastics individual team final will begin at 12:15 p.m. ET on Tuesday.
Gymnastics competitions air in the US on NBC, USA Network and E! and stream on Peacock and NBC Olympics.
Outside of the US, you can watch via the following media rights holders:
• Brazil: Globo
• Canada: CBC
• China: CCTV
• France: France Télévisions
• Germany: (MRHs) ARD/ZDF
• Japan: Fuji TV/NHK/Nippon TV/TBS/TV Asahi/TV Tokyo
• New Zealand: SKY NZ
• South Africa: SuperSport
• United Kingdom: BBC Sport
• Across rest of Europe: Discovery Eurosport
Simone Biles fighting through pain toward redemption
She’s got a strong case to be called the greatest gymnast of all time. And yet, even the best have moments where they need to prove themselves.
It’s hard to overstate just how much this competition is about Biles or how closely watched she is after her shocking exit from this competition in Tokyo. On Sunday during qualifying, the 20,000-seat Bercy Arena fell silent – aside from the bursts of cheers that followed her powerful twists and soaring flips and the explosions of noise when she finished her routines.
While Biles’ obstacles in Tokyo were mental, she’s facing a physical one on Tuesday. During a warmup for her floor routine, Biles aggravated a bother in her calf that her coach said she had first felt a couple of weeks before the Olympics. She left the arena floor for the locker room area and returned with her lower leg heavily taped.
However, the injury didn’t appear to slow her down at all. Biles finished atop the standings for women’s individual all-around competition and will also compete in three other individual events later on in the week.
But on Tuesday, she’ll be one of only two American women who perform on each apparatus, one of the anchors of a team of stars looking to reclaim its place atop the mountain.
Suni Lee on fire
But Biles isn’t the only all-around gold medal winner on Team USA.
Lee, who won the individual all-around in Tokyo three years ago after Biles dropped out, was stellar on Sunday and is going to be a key part of the American team in these Games.
While all eyes were on Biles’ lower left leg during qualifying, Lee just took care of business on each apparatus and finished third in all-around qualifying.
Lee took some time off following the Tokyo Games, returning to competition in the summer of 2023. A kidney condition in September of that year took her in and out of the gym and it took until February of this year for Lee to return to competing full-time.
Those difficult times appear to be firmly in the rear view mirror now as she looks to end Paris with a few more golds around her neck. In addition to the team competition on Tuesday, she’ll compete in uneven bars and balance beam in the individual competition as well as trying to defend her all-around gold medal.
Jordan Chiles looking to make a statement after being forced out of the all-around
The other American looking to compete on all four apparatuses on Tuesday is Chiles, who will be smarting from a quirk in Olympic rules that keeps her out of the all-around finals on Thursday.
Olympic rules state that the top eight gymnasts in qualifying move onto the individual finals, but no nation can have more than two of their gymnasts in the individual contests. Biles and Lee claimed those all-around spots for the Americans, leaving Chiles – who finished in fourth in qualifying, just behind Lee – on the sidelines.
The same thing happened in the individual vault qualifying. Biles and American Jade Carey will take the US’ spots in the vault finals, leaving Chiles – who again finished in fourth – to watch.
That makes Tuesday Chiles’ opportunity to shine. She competes on all four apparatuses – vault, uneven bars, floor and balance beam – and will aim to put her stamp on these Games.
Russia absent in major political statement
The gold medal-winning Russian team from 2021 isn’t back this year.
No Russian gymnasts will compete in Paris this year after the country was officially banned from the 2024 Summer Games for the invasion of Ukraine – though a small number of Russians are competing under the banner of the Individual Neutral Athletes. They will not be allowed to wear their country’s colors or have their anthem played should they win a medal.
The Russian gymnastics team decided en masse not to apply to be neutral athletes in protest of the ban and the suspension over the Russian Olympic Committee in 2023.
It’s one of the most intense political statements in the Olympics in years as the fallout from the war in Ukraine and the intense global backlash against the Kremlin and Russian President Vladimir Putin seeps into the world of sport.
The absence of Russian gymnasts – traditionally one of the strongest teams in the Games and a major rival of the American team – creates an opening for other nations.
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