Team USA Is ‘Safe’ Despite Simone Biles’ Leg Injury – Said Laurie Hernandez

 

The gold medalist tells ‘WH’ there was “a lot of drama” during the weekend’s qualifier.

Simone Biles could win her first gold of the 2024 Summer Olympics today. At 12:15 p.m. ET, Simone—along with Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey, and Hezly Rivera—is competing in the team finals, where they’re heavily favored.

But during her warmups for the qualifying rounds, Simone injured her calf and was seen visibly limping, raising a lot of questions about whether she’s going to be okay.

Of course, this is Simone Biles we’re talking about—so, even with an injury, she went out and got the highest scores at the event. (By the way, Simone’s coach Cecile Landi brushed off concerns, saying that the 27-year-old “felt a little something in her calf,” per NPR.)

Simone’s former teammate Laurie Hernandez, who is commentating gymnastics for NBC during the Games, told Women’s Health that Team USA is “safe” despite Simone’s injury.

“There was a lot of drama with Simone after warmups,” Laurie said at the P&G Pavilion in Paris with Olay. “[She was] moving to the side saying she feels something in her calf, taping her ankle, and then going out there and hitting a monster floor routine.”

Meanwhile, Simone’s teammate Jade Carey fell during her floor routine, which was pretty shocking for the former gold medalist in that event. Jade ended up not qualifying for the finals in the floor routine because of her fall, telling Olympics.com that she’s “not been feeling well the past few days” and has struggled to eat.

But Laurie has faith that Jade will succeed in the vault finals, which she did qualify for.

“She qualified into vault finals, which she wasn’t able to do in Tokyo due to kind of a similar issue, and now it’s just swapped,” Laurie said. “So each athlete had their own pros and cons throughout the day.”

Laurie added that “Team USA is a lock and good to go in terms of team finals, and we’re going to be seeing a lot more USA athletes in individual event finals.”