The Russians still won easily, running away with the gold by 3.432 points. Chiles scored a 14.166 on bars and a 13.433 on beam. So she called on Chiles to fill in for her on bars and beam and Lee to step in on floor. “So I thought it was better to take a step back and let these other girls do the job. “I didn't want to go into any of the other events not believing in myself,” Biles said. There is no manager who comes to the pitching mound in gymnastics. “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 was like, ‘I am not in the right headspace,’” Biles said. Only three other gymnasts, and none who competed on the top six teams, scored lower. In a sport where winning and losing can come down to one-tenth, let alone one one-hundredth of a point, Biles was 1.2 points below what she put up in qualifying. Instantly, Biles knew she couldn’t compete any longer.īiles received 13.766, a painfully low score in elite gymnastics. Of the 42 women who competed Tuesday, only one attempted an easier vault. The Yurchenko 1.5 is a basic vault, a 5.0 degree of difficulty that is comically pedestrian at this level. Her teammates were so stunned that they covered their mouths. This is somewhat akin to a baseball pitcher thinking he was going to throw a fastball but instead throwing a curveball. “I was trying to do a two and a half but that was not clicking.” Simone Biles knew something was not right “I did not choose to do a one and a half,” Biles said. On her vault she attempted to perform a Yurchenko with 2.5 twists, except she was so out of it that she managed only 1.5 twists. For Biles, the inability to concentrate was obvious. A lack of focus is as dangerous as a busted-up ankle. Some will dismiss mental health issues, but gymnastics, in particular, is a sport that requires the mind as much as the body. Team USA won silver in the artistic Women's Team Final. However, Biles, the greatest gymnast of all time, was anything but good in her one vault attempt. “I have to put my pride aside,” she thought. While it would no doubt have been better for all if Biles had determined this prior to the start of competition, she said she felt good heading to the gym before trying to power through. However, there is a distinction in sports between just walking away and acknowledging when, for whatever reason, you are either incapable of continuing or your performance is hurting the team - like a player testing out a knee and realising he can’t go or the pulling of a hockey goalie who is letting in too many shots. After all, she decided to stop competing. There is no denying that Biles “quit" by some definitions of the word. While some have slammed Biles as a quitter who let her USA teammates down, there is a compelling argument that the gymnast's decision actually gave Team USA a chance to win the silver medal that they may not have otherwise. “Instead of being ashamed of that, or apologising to her teammates and her countrymen, Biles seemed to revel in taking care of her ‘mental health’, whatever that means.” She wasn’t mentally tough when she needed to be. “What she experienced wasn’t that, it was something more common among professional athletes: she got psyched out. “And there are things going on behind the scenes that we’re also trying to juggle with as well, on top of sports.“Biles doesn’t suffer from a specific mental illness, at least not that we know of or that’s ever manifested itself before. “We’re not just entertainment, we’re humans,” Biles told the Associated Press at the time. The win tied Biles with Shannon Miller for the most medals won by an American gymnast. She subsequently pulled out of four individual finals before making a comeback and securing bronze on the balance beam. gymnast Jordan Chiles wrote, “Preach! Say it louder for the people in the back.”īiles faced waves of both backlash and support following her decision to withdraw from the team’s all-around final in Japan, citing mental health concerns and a disorienting issue that gymnasts sometimes experience known as the “ twisties.” Oscar-winning actor Viola Davis responded to Biles’ post with a simple but effective “Woooooooohoooooo!!!!!!!!” and several heart emojis, while fellow U.S. “‘Haters, keep talking I can’t hear you over my 7 Olympic medals,’” one supporter wrote. A post shared by Simone Biles caption garnered a lot of praise in the comments.
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