Simon Biles Powers Through Pain to Wow Again

U.S. gymnast Simone Biles bounced back Sunday for a spectacular qualifying routine at the Paris Olympics after appearing to suffer a troubling injury during an earlier warm up.

Biles started the day with an impressive balance beam routine (14.733), but jolted American fans a short time later when she appeared to tweak her left lower leg warming up for the floor exercise.

A limping Biles was then helped off the mat by U.S. team doctor Dr. Marcia Faustin, who heavily taped her ankle to her lower calf. A coach later explained that she had "tweaked" her calf.

Shortly afterward Biles delivered the highest-scoring qualifying floor exercise routine (14.600) among all competitors, starting off with a triple-twisting, double somersault, known as the Biles II

She soon also pulled off her signature Yurchenko double pike vault (15.8), and finished with only a slight mistake on uneven bars when she briefly wobbled briefly on a handstand.

"What she was able to do ... was remarkable," said Chellsie Memmel, the technical lead for the U.S. women's team.

When Biles finished bars, she walked over to salute a crowd of U.S. fans, smiling and waving.

"Yeah," Biles quipped after her score, 14.433. "That's good."

Cecile Landi, one of Simone Biles' coaches, said later that she had no concerns about Biles continuing to compete, USA Today reported. Biles "felt better at the end" of her routine after her calf was taped.

Landi described the issue as "just a little pain in her calf. She felt it a little bit on floor. And we taped it to kind of [tighten] it up."

She said there was no discussion about Biles not continuing to compete on Sunday, nor any consideration of easing off her demanding routines.

"Never in her mind," Landi said.

The U.S. team finals are Tuesday night. They're heavily favored to win the gold.