The gymnast’s decision came after she attempted one vault at the start of the team final competition and appeared to suffer an injury. She left the floor with a trainer, and when Biles returned, she’d changed into sweats and a jacket and her foot was wrapped. However, it seems Biles’ decision may have been influenced by factors beyond her physical health. Keep reading to find out everything we know about Simone Biles’ withdrawal from the Olympics gymnastics team final.
Why did Simone Biles pull out of the Olympics?
To be clear, on Tuesday, Biles only pulled out of the team finals—although on Wednesday, she also announced her exit from the individual all-around finals. (Jade Carey will take Biles’ place in the individual all-around event.) Biles may still compete in individual medal events that take place later in the Games. After the 24-year-old Biles and teammates Sunisa Lee, Jordan Chiles and Grace McCallum won the silver medal in the team event, Biles said of the second-place victory, “I’m OK, just super frustrated of how the night [went]… but super proud of these girls and now we’re silver medalists, something we’ll cherish forever. We hope America still loves us.” She also stated at a press conference about her decision to withdraw from the team finals, “I just felt like it would be a little bit better to take a back seat and work on my mindfulness… I didn’t want to risk the team a medal because of my screwups.” Biles told reporters that she made a choice “to focus on my well-being and there’s more to life than just gymnastics. It is very unfortunate that it has to happen at this stage.” As for her plans for the rest of the competition, she said she’d “take it one day at a time. We’re gonna see how the rest goes.” She added, “I feel like I’m also not having as much fun—and this Olympic Games I wanted it to be for myself and it felt like I was still doing for other people—and that hurts my heart that doing what I love has been taken away from me.” Later on, around 2 a.m. Tokyo time, Biles issued her first tweet since exiting the team finals: a gray heart emoji. But a couple hours later on Instagram, her spirits seemed high as she raved about her teammates. “I’m SO proud of these girls right here. You girls are incredibly brave and talented!” she wrote alongside a pic of her and her fellow Team USA gymnasts flashing their silver medals, as well as some big smiles. “I’ll forever be inspired by your determination to not give up and to fight through adversity! They stepped up when I couldn’t. thanks for being there for me and having my back! forever love y’all. Biles’ comments came after conflicting reports had initially surfaced about the reasons behind her team finals withdrawal. USA Gymnastics said Tuesday in a statement to The New York Times, “Simone has withdrawn from the team final competition due to a medical issue. She will be assessed daily to determine medical clearance for future competitions.” According to NBC, Biles’ coach described the concern as a “mental issue she is having,” while another Team USA rep said her exit was “not injury related.” “Physically, I feel good, I’m in shape,” Biles told Hoda Kotb soon after her team finals withdrawal. “Emotionally, that kind of varies on the time and moment. Coming to the Olympics and being head star isn’t an easy feat, so we’re just trying to take it one day at a time and we’ll see.” Kotb was one of countless fans who then took to social media to praise Biles for continuing to lead her team in the face of adversity. “Simone Biles already won. She is a class act,” Kotb tweeted. “Withdrew from team competition… stayed and cheered on her teammates… Congrats on the silver medal!” Earlier this week, Biles admitted she at times struggled with the pressure on her to succeed in the Olympics and that she didn’t perform at her best during preliminary rounds on Sunday. “Prelims now to prepare for finals. It wasn’t an easy day or my best but I got through it,” she wrote on Instagram. “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 hahaha! The Olympics is no joke! BUT I’m happy my family was able to be with me virtually. They mean the world to me!” A couple days later, she admitted in a tweet, “The outpouring [of] love and support I’ve received has made me realize I’m more than my accomplishments and gymnastics, which I never truly believed before.” Biles got support from her fellow athletes, including Olympian track star Allyson Felix, who commented, “We are all so proud of you already! You are authentically enough. You got this.” Former Olympian and current NBC Olympic sports analyst Nastia Liukin, who has one gold medal, three silver medals and one bronze medal, also spoke out for Biles, reposting Biles’ Instagram in her own Instagram Story. “I feel like at times, people forget that even the very best in the world are still human - with hearts, nerves, pain, stress, anxiety, pressure,” Liukin wrote. “So let’s continue to spread our love and support to our athletes who are doing something SO difficult already, and then having to also handle the weight of an entire nation and world on their shoulders during a pandemic without fans. AND their number one supporters, their family.” Fellow gymnasts Laurie Hernandezand Aly Raisman said on TODAYthat the pressure of being the greatest gymnast of all time, combined with the physical and mental stress of competition, may have gotten to Biles, and that people may forget that Biles, on top of being a gymnast, is also a person. “When you watch the coverage of gymnastics, I think sometimes people forget she is human, she has pains like all of us, she has stress. Simone has more pressure than any other gymnast I’ve ever seen in my lifetime,” Raisman said. “It’s insane how much pressure is on her.” Hernandez added, “The whole globe is watching her. The pressure is immense.” “My heart dropped and I was just devastated and I still am,” Raisman said of Biles requiring medical attention, explaining that Biles may have “gotten lost in the air” during the complex vault (of three that she’d planned) that ended her run in the team finals. “I think people forget sometimes how difficult the stuff is that we are doing. I know Simone makes it look so easy … It’s very, very hard and I give her a lot of credit for doing that many different vaults.” “Simone is just like everyone else,” Raisman said. “She is doing the best that she can. So I’m going to be praying that she can still compete in the all-around final.” Next, test your Olympics knowledge with these 125 trivia questions and answers!
