Who is Alice D’Amato, the Italian gymnast who beat Simone Biles to Olympic gold?

Alice D’Amato made history in the women’s balance beam final on Monday, winning Italy’s first ever Olympic gold medal in gymnastics.

D’Amato, 21, was crowned the new Olympic champion with a score of 14.366, topping a podium that also features an Italian bronze medallist, Manila Esposito. China’s Zhou Yaqin took silver, as Team USA superstar Simone Biles was restricted to a surprising fifth place at Bercy Arena.

Seven-time Olympic champion Biles, the winner of three golds at the 2024 Summer Games, finished with a score of 13.100, just behind Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade, who had also been a pre-final frontrunner for gold. Biles’ prospects of success suffered a crucial blow when she fell off the beam during the final.

Who is Alice D’Amato?

Competing at her second Olympic Games, D’Amato is a four-time European champion - earning two golds each in the team all-around and uneven bars events - and won a historic bronze at the 2019 World Championships. She was part of the team that won Italy’s first women’s team all-around medal at the championships since 1950.

At the Paris Summer Games, D’Amato won silver in the women’s team all-around event last Tuesday - a feat that also ended a long Italian wait for a medal. Having finished behind the USA, the foursome made up of D’Amato, Esposito, Angela Andeoli and Giorgia Villa claimed Italy’s first Olympic women’s team medal in 96 years.

Now, having won gold in the balance beam, D’Amato has added to her growing list of history-making achievements.

Sister Asia also an international gymnast

Born in Genoa in February 2003, D’Amato has comPeted at the Olympics both alongside and against her sister, fellow gymnast Asia, who was also a member of the Italian team in Tokyo.

In an interview with International Gymnast Magazine Online, Alice explained that she doesn’t see her sibling as a rival when they’re up against one other.

“Asia and I on the comPetition floor do not feel against each other because she does not represent a real opponent for me,” Alice said. “We are united and we give each other strength as if at that moment she was my teaMMAte.”