D’Amato wins gold and Esposito bronze on the beam: a legendary double podium for Italy at the Olympic Games

Alice D’Amato and Manila Esposito continue to make history in Italian artistic gymnastics at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

After contributing to the silver medal in the team event, a legendary double podium on the beam transpired at the Bercy Arena, with the two Azzurre each taking gold and bronze respectively.

D’Amato (photo Simone Ferraro/CONI), seventh in qualifying (13.866), delivered a sublime performance, scoring an outstanding 14.366 (D: 5.800-E: 8.566). The Chinese athlete Yaqin Zhou, with a score of 14.100 (D: 6.600-E: 7.500), had to settle for silver. Esposito also made it into the top three, receiving a score of 14.000 (D: 5.800-E: 8.200) after a sixth-place finish in the preliminary phase (13.966). American superstar Simone Biles had to settle for fifth with 13.100 (D: 6.200-E: 7.200-P: -0.3). 

This marks a historic day for Italy. Since the inception of the Games, this is the first individual podium on the apparatus for Italian female gymnasts. Vanessa Ferrari had previously achieved this feat with a silver medal on the floor exercise at Tokyo three years ago. 

It means Italia Team has secured its 23rd and 24th medals of this Parisian edition, bringing the total to 8 golds, 10 silvers, and 6 bronzes.