PARIS: Simone Biles made a stunning return to Olympic competition on Sunday, powering through a left calf injury to get her multiple-medal bid off to a rousing start.
The US superstar, aiming to add to the four gold medals she won in a dazzling 2016 Rio Olympics campaign, appeared to tweak her left calf warming up for her second apparatus, the floor exercise.
It didn't stop her from soaring through her signature Yurchenko double pike vault – now known as the Biles II – which even with a big step back on landing earned a 9.4 for execution for a total of 15.800 points.
She had another step back landing her second vault, but made light of the injury as she crawled back toward teammates on her hands and knees laughing all the way.
She closed out her day by sticking the landing on her uneven bars routine, receiving another huge ovation and beaming as she shared a dance with teammate Jordan Chiles.
With two of the five qualifying sessions complete Biles topped the all-around standings with 59.566 points.
Teammate Suni Lee – the Tokyo Olympics all-around champion – was in second – a promising start for the US team as they vie to regain team gold after settling for silver in Japan.
At the end of their session the USA were assured of a team finals berth with score of 172.296 points.
Italy were in second, China in third and Britain in fourth. Team medal contenders Brazil and France were scheduled to compete later.
Brazil, led by Tokyo vault gold medallist Rebeca Andrade, won world championships silver behind the United States last year.
Andrade has indicated she could attempt a never-been-done Yurchenko triple twist vault in Paris in a bid to retain her title and help her team to the podium.
France, led by Melanie De Jesus Dos Santos and three-time Olympian Marine Boyer, boast one of their strongest Olympic squads ever.
But Biles remains the benchmark.
"She's just out of this world, isn't she?" British gymnast Ruby Evans said of Biles. "We've never had anyone like her before and I don't think we ever will, ever again."
Biles led the vault and floor exercise standings and was second in balance beam behind China's Zhou Yaqin. But her eighth spot in uneven bars meant she could miss out on the eight-woman final of that event.
Biles won four gold medals in a dazzling 2016 Rio Olympics campaign, but she withdrew from multiple events at the Tokyo Games as she battled the disorientating condition that gymnasts call "twisties."
She still went home with a silver and bronze and was lauded for speaking openly about mental health struggles.
After taking two years out, Biles made a triumphant comeback last year, earning four world titles to take her tally to an astonishing 23.
She could become the oldest all-around women's all-around Olympic champion in 72 years and just the third woman to capture more than one Olympic all-around title.
The buzz was palpable at Bercy Arena, where celebrity fans included Hollywood A-listers Tom Cruise, Jessica Chastain and Greta Gerwig, pop star Ariana Grande, Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour and Olympic snowboard star Shaun White and his wife, Canadian actress Nina Dobrev.
Chants of "U-S-A" began to ring out even before gymnasts made their entrance for the second session of qualifying, and the roar when Biles was introduced was deafening.
When she saw that her image was on the giant scoreboard screen Biles gave a small wave and kiss to the crowd.
She didn't disappoint once competition got underway, crushing every skill in her opening balance beam routine.
She looked perfectly at ease on the four-inch wide beam, roaring through her aerial skills and spins without a wobble.
But Biles appeared to hurt herself warming up for the floor exercise, briefly leaving the floor and returning with her left leg taped from calf to foot.
Nevertheless, her dynamic floor routine featured both her Biles I double layout with half a twist and her Biles II "triple-double" of two back flips with three twists.
"It's incredible," US team technical lead Chellsie Memmel said. "She's an outstanding gymnast and person, what she was able to do looking like she has soreness or something in her leg is incredible." - AFP