USA Gymnastics said in a statement, “After further medical evaluation, Simone Biles has withdrawn from the final individual all-around competition. We wholeheartedly support Simone’s decision and applaud her bravery in prioritizing her well-being. Her courage shows, yet again, why she is a role model for so many.” Jade Carey will replace Biles in the individual all-around finals. Biles’ withdrawal from the competition comes after she also pulled out of the Olympic gymnastics team finals on Tuesday. She reportedly told her coaches that she was worried about injuring herself and wasn’t in the right state of mind to compete and said, “I want to walk out of here, not be dragged out by a stretcher or something.” Biles told reporters Tuesday that she withdrew from the team finals “to focus on my well-being and there’s more to life than just gymnastics. It is very unfortunate that it has to happen at this stage.” The 24-year-old phenom said moving forward that she would “take it one day at a time. We’re gonna see how the rest goes,” adding, “I feel like I’m also not having as much fun—and this Olympic Games I wanted it to be for myself and it felt like I was still doing for other people—and that hurts my heart that doing what I love has been taken away from me.” She also spoke out in support of tennis icon Naomi Osaka, who withdrew from the French Open and Wimbledon to focus on her own mental health after battling depression and anxiety. “I say put mental health first because if you don’t, then you’re not going to enjoy your score and you’re not gonna succeed as much as you want to,” she said. “It’s okay sometimes to even sit out the big competitions to focus on yourself because it shows how strong of a competitor or a person that you really are.” Biles is under a tremendous amount of pressure, not just to perform well for herself and for her country, but also for the communities that she represents, including sexual abuse survivors and girls and women of color. After Biles publicly came forward as one of U.S.A. Gymnastics former doctor Larry Nassar’s victims, she previously told the New York Times, “I’m going to go out there and represent the U.S.A., represent World Champions Centre, and represent Black and brown girls over the world. At the end of the day, I’m not representing U.S.A. Gymnastics.” She added that the spotlight being on her constantly, from her vaults to her personal life, can be difficult. “I feel like I realized that power after I came out, after the #MeToo movement, and that was kind of scary,” she recalled. “But it’s like, wow, my presence is very big in gymnastics but also online, just in the world in general. So I have to be a bit careful about what I say.” She also explained that being the greatest of all time has come with extreme sacrifices, including simply living a normal life of a teenager and now a young 20-something, as well as developing a sense of identity beyond her medals and mounts. “At the end of the day, I’m such a huge athlete, but who am I? If you take off that mask, you know, who will I be?” she said. “I’m still trying to find that out.” The good news? It seems the support Biles is receiving from fans around the world in the wake of her decision to withdraw is helping her size up her self-worth outside the gym. On July 28, she tweeted, “The outpouring [of] love and support I’ve received has made me realize I’m more than my accomplishments and gymnastics, which I never truly believed before.” Next, meet the man Simone Biles flips for, boyfriend Jonathan Owens!
