France is dismal in gymnastics qualifying, won’t make team final

PARIS — France’s women’s gymnastics team entered Bercy Arena to thunderous cheers and adoring applause.
That was the highlight of their night.
The host country, bronze medalists at the 2023 world championships, will miss the team final at the Paris Olympics after an epic meltdown in qualifying Sunday. They had to count a fall on three of the four events and didn’t have a score above 14.233.
By contrast, only four of the U.S. women’s 12 scores were below 14.266.
France’s showing was so rough it was knocked out of the eight-team final before the last subdivision even began, in ninth place with three teams still to compete. It’s possible the French will be shut out of the individual event finals, too.
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Melanie de Jesus dos Santos is 28th in the all-around standings, though she could get into the top 24 via the two-per-country rule. Marine Boyer was eighth on balance beam, but she’s likely to be leapfrogged by at least one of Brazil’s gymnasts.
“I feel like everything I did the last two, three years, did not work out today,” said de Jesus dos Santos, who moved to Houston to train with Simone Biles and her coaches, Cecile and Laurent Landi, in preparation for Paris.
“I’m very sad,” de Jesus dos Santos told the Olympic Information Service. “I feel like I’ve worked for nothing the past years.”
The meet got off to an inauspicious start, with Morgane Osyssek-Reimer coming off uneven bars in France’s first routine of the night. Teams can drop their lowest score on each event in qualifying, but if a mistake happens, it puts pressure on the rest of the team. Sure enough, de Jesus dos Santos came off later in the rotation.
The same thing happened on balance beam. Coline Devillard, first up on beam, fell. So did de Jesus dos Santos.
As de Jesus dos Santos waited for her beam score, she sobbed on the sideline. Her teammates tried to console her and the crowd began chanting “Melanie! Melanie!” when they saw her crying on the Jumbotron. De Jesus dos Santos stood up and waved, fighting back more tears.
“It’s because I’m not strong in my head (mentally),” said de Jesus dos Santos, who also landed a pass on floor exercise on her knees. “I did not have any confidence today. I really tried to focus. I don’t know why, but today was not my day.”
De Jesus dos Santos is France’s best gymnast, the 2019 European champion, but this wasn’t all on her. The entire team looked nervous, perhaps feeling the pressure of competing in front of the home crowd.
If the crowd was disappointed in their performance, however, it didn’t show it. As the women gathered their gear and headed off the competition floor, the crowd rose and gave them a standing ovation.
“That’s how it is, that’s sport,” said Ming Van Eijken, the youngest member of France’s team. “We’re very low and this is definitely a low point for us, but I’m trying to pull the positive that I can from it.”