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Simone Biles: ‘You know there’s more to life than just gymnastics’

American gymnastic star pulled out of team event on Tuesday to focus on mental health

Simone Biles waits for the final results of the artistic gymnastics women’s team final. Photograph: Loic Venance/Getty/AFP

Tumaini Carayol at Ariake Gymnastics Centre
Tue Jul 27 2021 - 18:07

Simone Biles was forced to withdraw from the women’s team final at the Tokyo Games on Tuesday, citing mental health concerns after a difficult opening vault.

The four-times Olympic champion said that she had been struggling mentally in recent days and after the vault, she decided that she wanted to “take a back seat” in the team final and she had full faith in her teammates to win a medal.

Biles will take things one day at a time instead of immediately making decisions about her presence in the all around final on Thursday. When asked by reporters later what her goal was for these Games, Biles replied: “To focus on my wellbeing. You know there’s more to life than just gymnastics.”

In candid exchanges with reporters, Biles, regularly described as the global star of these Games, said: “I feel like I’m also not having as much fun. This Olympic Games I wanted it to be for myself but I came in and I felt like I was still doing it for other people. It hurts my heart that doing what I love has been kind of taken away from me to please other people.”

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In her absence, the Russian Olympic Committee clinched the gold medal, comfortably defeating a USA team that performed admirably without their biggest star. It marks the first time that the United States have lost a major gymnastics team competition since 2010.

In the opening rotation, Biles had attempted her trusty Amanar vault, one she has almost never missed. However, as she launched herself into the air her form deteriorated and she only managed one and a half twists before a messy landing. The judge gave her an extremely low score of 13.700.

Biles was immediately surrounded by her coaches, before being whisked away from the arena by one of the team’s trainers. When she returned, she played no further part in the competition but throughout the night she appeared in good spirits, continually cheering for her teammates.

USA Gymnastics put out a statement saying her she had withdrawn on medical grounds. “Simone Biles has withdrawn from the team final competition due to a medical issue.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,” read the statement.

But speaking after the competition, Biles told reporters: “Even though it’s so big, it’s the Olympic Games. But at the end of the day it’s like we want to walk out of here, not be dragged out of here on a stretcher.

“I just don’t trust myself as much as I used to. And I don’t know if it’s age – I’m a little bit more nervous when I do gymnastics. I feel like I’m also not having as much fun and I know that.

“It does suck when you do feel the weight of the world and you feel like there are no outlets for the amount of training that we do. We were totally prepared, but it just sucks when you’re fighting with your own head. Like, you want to do it for yourself but you’re still too worried about what everybody else is going to say, on the internet and stuff sometimes. So I just had to stay off of it for the past couple [OF]days.”

Biles added: “I felt pretty comfortable coming into the Olympics and I don’t really know what happened. Just going through each of the days and the training it’s just felt a little bit tougher. Going out there tonight could’ve gone a bit better, because warm-up wasn’t that bad. I was struggling with some things but it wasn’t too bad. But once I got out here, its was just like … you know what, I’m going to take a back seat, these girls [CAN]go out there and do their thing and they did it.”

Up against a ROC team that had already outscored USA in the qualifying competition with Biles, the Americans rallied behind solid performances, particularly from Sunisa Lee. But they were unable to overcome Russia’s supremacy and a sublime performance from 16-year-old Viktoria Listunova.

Britain, meanwhile, secured a shock bronze with brilliant performances from Jessica and Jennifer Gadirova, Amelie Morgan and Alice Kinsella.

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or by emailing jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org. - Guardian

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