What happened to Simone Biles at the Tokyo Olympics?
Biles looks back to her best at the 2024 Paris Olympics after a difficult time three years ago.
Simone Biles's third and potentially final Olympic Games came to a close on Monday afternoon (5th August).
And, after a shock withdrawal from the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 due to mental health concerns, Biles once again ascended to the top of her sport.
The athlete, who is inarguably one of the greatest American gymnasts to ever life and is the subject of a recently released Netflix docuseries, left Paris with three gold medals in the vault, all-around and team events, and a silver in the floor exercise, bringing her Olympic medal total to 11.
She previously won five gold at the Rio Olympics – and she had been widely expected to continue that form into the delayed Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
She did manage to bag a silver in the team event and a bronze on the balance beam but the athlete withdrew from the competition before she could add any gold medals to her tally.
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What happened to Simone Biles at the Tokyo Olympics?
Having already suffered a few uncharacteristic mishaps during the qualification rounds, Biles's true difficulties at the Tokyo Olympics began while she was competing on the vault in the team event final.
While attempting two and a half twists, she was only able to manage one and a half and instantly looked shaken on leaving the area. Soon afterwards, she announced that she would be pulling out of the event – although she went on to claim a silver medal after the rest of the team did enough to secure second place.
At the time, Biles's full statement read: "After the performance I did, I just didn't want to go on. I have to focus on my mental health. I just think mental health is more prevalent in sports right now.
"We have to protect our minds and our bodies and not just go out and do what the world wants us to do. I don't trust myself as much anymore. Maybe it's getting older. There were a couple of days when everybody tweets you and you feel the weight of the world.
"We're not just athletes. We're people at the end of the day and sometimes you just have to step back. I didn't want to go out and do something stupid and get hurt. I feel like a lot of athletes speaking up has really helped.
"It's so big, it's the Olympic Games. At the end of the day we don't want to be carried out of there on a stretcher."
The next day, Biles revealed that she would also be withdrawing from the individual all-around competition, again citing mental health reasons, and in the following days she did the same for the vault, uneven bars and floor events.
She ultimately returned for the beam final, and despite performing a pared-down routine compared to her usual standard she still won a bronze medal.
What are "the twisties" in gymnastics?
Later, Biles revealed that the primary cause of her difficulties had been developing "the twisties".
Sometime referred to as the yips, this is a psychological issue that can cause a gymnast to unexpectedly and temporarily lose air awareness.
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