Having won five medals as a teenager in Rio four years ago (including four golds!), American gymnast Simone Biles was set to be one of the stars of the Tokyo Olympics. Still favoured to dominate the Gymnastic events, she's the only competitor to qualify for every individual final, and was part of the American team that qualified for the team final with ease, and expected to take the gold medal.
However, in this morning's vault event, Biles made a rare and surprising error, bailing on her planned move for a much more simple skill. Off balance, she almost fell on her landing, and received a low score of 13.766 from the judges.
Shortly afterwards, she was seen leaving the arena, but returned shortly after with the announcement she was pulling out of the event, and would no longer be competing alongside her three teammates in the remaining events.
Simone Biles back in warmup gear, cheering on her teammates after she told them she pulled out of the team competition final.
“It is not injury related” and apparently her coach said “it’s a mental issue that Simone is having,” per NBC commentators just now. #TokyoOlympics pic.twitter.com/WdBgVBnF5m— Monica Alba (@albamonica) July 27, 2021
NBC, the Olympic broadcaster in the States reported that Biles' coach said a "mental issue" was the reasoning for the withdrawal, though an official statement has since been released by USA Gymnastics has called it a "medical issue."
Official statement: "Simone Biles has withdrawn from the team final competition due to a medical issue. She will be assessed daily to determine medical clearance for future competitions."
Thinking of you, Simone! pic.twitter.com/QA1GYHwWTv— USA Gymnastics (@USAGym) July 27, 2021
It has led to much confusion among fans and journalists as to what the actual issue was. Just yesterday, Biles posted on Instagram with a statement that told of the pressure on her shoulders, given how much America and the world expects her to perform on the biggest stage of them all.
"I truly do feel like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders at times. I know I brush it off and make it seem like pressure doesn't affect me but damn sometimes it's hard."
View this post on Instagram
It remains to be seen what this means for the rest of Biles' Olympics and whether she was continue to compete in the individual events.
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