Live Updates: Simone Biles Returns to Olympic Stage

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The women’s gymnastics competition at the Olympics begins Sunday with the qualifications round, which will be followed over the next week by finals in the team, all-around, vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise events.

Here’s what to watch, and when.

Qualifications

The qualifications round will take place across five subdivisions, the first starting at 9:30 a.m. in Paris (3:30 a.m. Eastern time) on Sunday and the last at 9:10 p.m. (3:10 p.m.). Each subdivision will include gymnasts from two or three countries’ teams, plus gymnasts competing as individuals for countries that did not qualify to send full teams.

This round will determine which eight countries will qualify for the team final, the 24 gymnasts who will make the all-around final and the eight gymnasts competing in each of the four apparatus finals.

One big thing to watch will be the “two-per-country rule,” which dictates that only two gymnasts per country can qualify for each final. With Simone Biles a near lock, the final United States spot in the all-around final is likely to go to Suni Lee or Jordan Chiles.

The qualifications schedule is:

Subdivision 1 (9:30 a.m.): British and Romanian teams; Bulgarian, Indonesian, Mexican, South African, Swiss and Ukrainian individuals.
Subdivision 2 (11:40 a.m.): Chinese, Italian and American teams; Algerian, German and Israeli individuals.
Subdivision 3 (2:50 p.m.): Dutch and Japanese teams; Colombian, Filipino, New Zealander, North Korean, Panamanian and Portuguese individuals.
Subdivision 4 (6 p.m.): Canadian, French and South Korean teams; Austrian, Czech, Haitian and Slovenian individuals.
Subdivision 5 (9:10 p.m.): Australian and Brazilian teams; Belgian, Egyptian, Hungarian, Spanish and Taiwanese individuals.

Team final

The top eight teams in qualifications will advance to the final on Tuesday, at 6:15 p.m. in Paris.

The United States is favored to win gold, especially with Russia — which won in 2021 — effectively barred from participating this year. But the competition for the spots on the podium is likely to be intense, with Brazil, France, Britain, Canada and China all capable of contending based on their recent results.

All-around final

The top 24 individual gymnasts will advance to the all-around final on Thursday, at 6:15 p.m. in Paris.

Anything can happen, as we saw three years ago, but Biles is the favorite. She has won every all-around competition she has entered for more than a decade, and her high difficulty scores provide a buffer that allows her to win sometimes even if she falls. She would be the first woman to win multiple Olympic all-around titles since Vera Caslavska of Czechoslovakia, in 1964 and 1968, and the first to win nonconsecutive titles.

Other contenders for medals include Rebeca Andrade of Brazil, who won silver in Tokyo and could have won gold had she not stepped out of bounds on floor; Lee, the reigning Olympic champion, who would also be the first woman since Caslavska to win multiple Olympic all-around titles;

Qiu Qiyuan of China; Alice D’Amato of Italy; Alice Kinsella of Britain; Kaylia Nemour of Algeria; Manila Esposito of Italy; and Mélanie de Jesus Dos Santos of France.

Vault final

The top eight vaulters will compete on Saturday at 4:20 p.m. in Paris. To be eligible for the final, gymnasts have to perform two vaults in the qualifications round.

The main competition is between Biles and Andrade, both of whom have won world and Olympic championships in vault.

If she executes well, Biles has the edge on difficulty with her Yurchenko double pike. But when Biles fell at last year’s world championships, Andrade beat her. And a video has circulated of Andrade training another unique vault, a triple-twisting Yurchenko, which could make this event even more interesting.

Also keep an eye on Jade Carey of the United States; Yeo Seo-jeong of South Korea; Shallon Olsen of Canada; Alexa Moreno of Mexico; An Chang-ok of North Korea; and Valentina Georgieva of Bulgaria.

Bars final

The top eight gymnasts on bars will compete on Aug. 4 at 3:40 p.m. in Paris.

Qiu and Nemour finished first and second at the world championships last year and are serious contenders for gold. Nemour would be the first woman from an African country to win an Olympic medal in gymnastics.

Others to watch include D’Amato; Lee, who won bronze in Tokyo; Nina Derwael of Belgium, the reigning Olympic champion; Becky Downie of Britain; Georgia-Mae Fenton of Britain; Andrade; Helen Kevric of Germany; Ellie Black of Canada; Sanna Veerman of the Netherlands; and Naomi Visser of the Netherlands.

Beam final

The top eight gymnasts from the qualifications round will compete on Aug. 5 at 12:38 p.m. in Paris.

Biles is the reigning world champion and a strong contender for gold.

Other gymnasts to watch include Andrade, Black, D’Amato, Esposito, Lee, Nemour, Qiu, Sanne Wevers of the Netherlands and Zhou Yaqin of China.

Floor final

The top eight gymnasts from the qualifications round will compete Aug. 5 at 2:23 p.m. in Paris.

Biles is the overwhelming favorite. She has won all seven world and Olympic floor finals that she has entered, and her difficulty score is eight-tenths of a point higher than that of anyone who has competed this year.

Barring something unexpected, everyone else is battling for silver and bronze. Carey, the reigning Olympic champion, will be a strong contender, as will Andrade, D’Amato, de Jesus Dos Santos, Esposito, Angela Andreoli of Italy, Flavia Saraiva of Brazil and Sabrina Voinea of Romania.