News August 03, 2021
Simone Biles Speaks Out After Winning Bronze in Balance Beam at the Tokyo Olympics!
She’s back! Simone Biles just picked up a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
The gymnast returned to the Games for the individual balance beam competition with a 14.000. She finished just behind China’s Tang Xijing, who won silver with 14.233, and gold medal-winning Guan Chenchen, with 14.633.
Biles withdrew from multiple events last week citing health and mental health reasons, including the “twisties,” when the mind and body are not in sync.
After winning bronze, she told reporters, "It wasn't easy pulling out of all those competitions. People just thought it was easy, but I physically and mentally was not in the right head space and I didn't want to jeopardize my health and my safety because, at the end of the day, it's not worth it. My mental and physical health is above all medals that I could ever win."
She went on, "To do beam, which I didn't think I was going to be, just meant the world to be back out there. And I wasn't expecting to walk away with the medal. I was just going out there doing this for me."
Simone Biles Will Not Compete in the Olympics All-Around Gymnastics Competition to Focus on Mental Health
View StorySimone also revealed that her paternal aunt had passed away just two days earlier, and her coach Cecile Canqueteau-Landi told the press, there were already “a lot of tears” of joy and sadness for Team USA. When she found out that Simone had lost a loved one, she said, “I was like, 'Oh, my God. This week needs to be over.’ I asked her, ‘What do you need?’ And she said, 'I just need some time.' I said, 'You call me, text me if you need anything — I'll be here. Whatever that is.' She called her parents. She said, 'There's nothing I can do from over here. So I'm just going to finish my week and when I get home we'll deal with it.' "
As far as Biles’ future is concerned, she isn’t thinking about the 2024 Paris Olympics. She told reporters, "Paris is definitely not in my mind frame because I think there are so many things that I have to work on for myself first.”