![]() Biles’ score staked Russia to a sizable 1.067 lead in a discipline that the Americans should have had the advantage. 54 below the lowest American (McCallum) and 0.7 below the lowest Russian, which was the team the U.S. 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. (Photo by Loic VENANCE / AFP)īiles received 13.766, a painfully low score in elite gymnastics. USA's Simone Biles waits for the final results of the artistic gymnastics women's team final during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre in Tokyo on July 27, 2021. ![]() Instantly, Biles knew she couldn’t compete any longer. 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.” “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. 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 realizing 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. In fact, you can argue that Biles’ decision actually gave Team USA a chance at the silver medal it eventually captured. More specifically, did that decision cost the Americans a chance at winning the gold medal? Was there a negative impact to having Sunisa Lee, Jordan Chiles and Grace McCallum handle the final three rotations? Related.TOKYO - Did Simone Biles “quit” on the rest of the United States women’s gymnastics team Tuesday when, after a disastrously bad vault in the first rotation, she pulled herself out of competition citing a lack of focus caused by mental health concerns? This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated. “And there are things going on behind the scenes that we’re also trying to juggle with as well, on top of sports.” “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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