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Simone BilesThe four-time Olympic gold medalist will not compete in Thursday’s individual all-around event after pulling out of the team finals due to a mental health issue, according to an emailed statement from USA Gymnastics.
Biles will be evaluated daily to see if he will qualify for next week’s event finals.
“We wholeheartedly support Simone’s decision and applaud her courage in putting her well-being first,” the statement said. He shows his courage once again and is a role model for many.
Biles, 24, qualified for all four event finals and was expected to win a gold medal in at least three of those events. Anywhere, she hoped to repeat her title at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, becoming the first woman to win back-to-back titles in 53 years.
Balds stepping back from the Olympic all-around mark the end of an era in sport. He hasn’t lost an all-round competition since 2013 when he was 16 and still wearing braces. The competition tests individual athletes in four disciplines to determine the most complete gymnast: vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor competition.
Coming to the Tokyo Olympics feeling “pretty good” weight of expectations Team USA’s biggest star at the Tokyo Games got tougher by the day, saying in the hours before the team final he was shaking and unable to take a nap. After pulling out of Thursday’s team final, he finally said the pressure was too heavy for him to bear.
During his vault, the first event of the team final, Biles disappeared into the air and did not know where his body was relative to the ground. He ended up performing a much simpler vault than his usual daredevils. He stepped forward on the landing, trying to stay on his feet.
Biles told his coach and a team doctor that he wasn’t in the right “headroom” to continue as he feared injuring himself and also didn’t want to jeopardize the team’s chances of winning a medal.
“I’m still struggling with some things,” Biles said after the incident. “It sucks to fight with your own head.”
The USA team had dominated the sport for more than a decade before the Russians won the gold medal on Tuesday. USA team, Sunny Lee, Jordan Chiles and Grace McCallum, finished the competition Biles applauds them. They won the silver medal.
Jade Carey, who got the ninth highest score in the qualifiers, will replace Biles in the all-around final. Minn., St. Paul’s Lee will be the other ubiquitous gymnast for team USA. It’s unclear whether Biles will compete in any individual device finals.
In the days leading up to the Olympics, Biles was struggling with several skills and trying to overcome a mental handicap that prevented him from performing his routines easily. Lee’s coach, Jess Graba, said this mental blockage is not uncommon in gymnastics, but it usually happens in training, not a competition.
“I don’t think a lot of people realize that this is such a mental sport,” Graba said in a phone call Wednesday, explaining that it takes some time for mental blocks to pass before a gymnast starts to feel confident enough to perform. skills again.
Regarding Lee’s experience with these mental blocks, he added, “If you have a week or two to prepare, you can probably get him back to what he needs to do.”
But in Biles’ situation at these Games, he didn’t have time to spare two weeks.
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