Simone Biles (center) cheers for teammate Grace McCallum’s performance after withdrawing from the women’s artistic gymnastics final at the Summer Olympics Tuesday in Tokyo.
Ashley Landis/AFP
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Ashley Landis/AFP
Simone Biles (center) cheers for teammate Grace McCallum’s performance after withdrawing from the women’s artistic gymnastics final at the Summer Olympics Tuesday in Tokyo.
Ashley Landis/AFP
American gymnastics star Simone Biles, the greatest gymnast of all time, will not compete in the all-around gymnastics final at the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday.
Olympic singles is the sport’s preeminent individual event – which it won by a large margin at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
She pulled out of the team’s final on Tuesday, saying she needed to take care of her mental health.
“Following further medical evaluation, Simone Biles withdrew from the final individual all-around competition,” USA Gymnastics said in a statement.
“We strongly support Simone’s decision and applaud her courage in prioritizing her well-being,” USA Gymnastics added. “Her courage shows, once again, why she is a role model for so many.”
Biles can still compete in the singles event finals – USA Gymnastics said she will be evaluated every day to determine if she will participate. She qualified in all four events.
Jade Carey, who came to Tokyo as an events specialist, will take Biles’ place in the all-around solo event. Curry had an exceptionally strong showing in the playoffs, finishing ninth in the overall standings.
Biles abruptly withdrew from the team event, citing mental health
After the opening rock jump in the team final on Tuesday night, Biles told her coaches that she wanted to drop out of the competition. “I didn’t want to go into any of the other events, for sure,” she later told reporters.
“I’ve never felt like this entering a competition before,” she said. “I tried to get out here and have fun…but as soon as I got out here, I was like, ‘No, the mentality isn’t there, so I just need to let the girls do it and focus on myself.'” “
Her teammates rose to the challenge. Two of them – Sunisa Lee and Jordan Chili’s – He interfered and competed in events they did not expect, and they got a silver medal.
The team members acknowledged that suddenly losing their biggest star was stressful, but they expressed their full support for Biles. “Without her, we wouldn’t be here now,” Chiliz said. “We wouldn’t be silver medalists in the Olympics.”
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