Simone Biles won’t compete in Sunday’s uneven bars or vault individual finals at the Tokyo Olympics, USA Gymnastics announced in a statement on Friday.
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The phenom decided against competing in this weekend’s events after consulting with medical staffers, according to USA Gymnastics. She will be replaced in vault by MyKayla Skinner and newly-minted gold medalist Suni Lee will represent Team USA in uneven bars.
Biles has mostly withdrawn from Olympic competition in Tokyo after announcing she hasn’t been in the right mental state to perform, while also struggling with the “twisties”–a disorienting phenomenon that causes gymnasts to lose their sense of positioning mid-air, which frankly sounds terrifying.
Like a plethora of others who have wrapped their arms around Biles to support her as she continues to focus on well-being, USA Gymnastics said this:
“We remain in awe of Simone, who continues to handle this situation with courage and grace, and all of the athletes who have stepped up during these unexpected circumstances.”
As of Saturday morning, it’s unclear if Biles will compete in the finals for floor exercise and balance beam. If she ultimately chooses not to, that’s perfectly fine. The crowd of folks who can only claim dunking a Double Stuf Oreo into a glass of the thickest whole milk as their most athletic feat will continue to be mad and shoot off at the mouth (like this fool), but their words ultimately won’t matter.
What matters is that Biles takes as much time as she needs before rushing back to the mat, because as she and other gymnasts have said, the twisties are no joke. They’re dangerous. A gold medal isn’t worth anyone risking their safety.
We’ll see what the GOAT decides to do with her upcoming competitions, but regardless, we’re still rooting for her and want her to come back stronger than ever at her own pace.
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