Simone Biles Pulls Out Of Olympic Gymnastics Team Final Citing “Mental Issue,” Team USA Still Takes Home Silver Medal

Simone Biles in a blue dress
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Simone Biles is the greatest gymnast of all time.

There’s really no debating that. Every time she steps onto a mat, beam, vault, or whatever it is… she’s essentially flawless.

After a somewhat disappointing start at the Tokyo Olympics this year (relative to her usual perfect performances), she decided not to compete in the team all around today because of what she described herself as “demons.”

Considering how much pressure has been placed on her (and all of the girls apart of the gymnastics team) from such a young age to be perfect with the eyes of the world watching, it’s a wonder she hasn’t had to do so sooner.

According to CNN:

“These are also her first Games since former USA Gymnastics physician Larry Nassar was convicted of sexually abusing young gymnasts, including Biles and Raisman.”

After a stumble on the vault, which she admitted she felt lost in when she couldn’t complete her Yurchenko with 2.5 twists, she knew something was off:

“I didn’t know where I was in the air.”

She was in her own head, and she knew she wouldn’t be able to perform at her usual level that was necessary in order for Team USA to bring home the gold.

She felt like the best option was to bow out of the team competition. Of course, rumors swirled that she had some sort of physical injury or other reason for dropping out, but that’s not the case:

“I was like, ‘I am not in the right headspace.’ I am not going to lose a medal for this country and these girls because they’ve worked way too hard to have me go out there and lose a medal.

I thought it was better to take a step back and let these other girls do the job.

And they did.”

So, Sunisa Lee, Jordan Chiles and Grace McCallum stepped up and brought home the silver medal for Team USA after completing the team portion, coming up second only to Russia with Great Britain taking home the bronze medal.

They lost their quarterback and essentially had to call an audible just to get through the team part of the competition. But, the other girls came through in a huge way to deliver a solid performance.

Sunisa admitted it was a daunting challenge:

“We were all so stressed. She’s friggin’ Simone Biles. She carries the team basically.

When we had to step up to the plate and do what we had to do it was very stressful.”

Being the incredible teammate and leader that she is, Simone was right there on the sidelines to cheer her team on during the entire competition, and was clearly thrilled to see them do so well in spite of the last-minute change:

Simone is taking it “day-by-day”, and is unsure if she’ll compete in the upcoming individual events later this week.

She took to Instagram to congratulate her teammates on their big win and thank them for stepping up when she needed them the most, saying:

“OLYMPIC SILVER MEDALISTS.

I’m SO proud of these girls right here. You girls are incredibly brave & talented! 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.”

She’s a class act. What a role model for these young women.

Congratulations to Team USA on the huge win:

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