National Post

A rough day for top U.S. gymnast

- John Kryk Jokryk@postmedia.com @Johnkryk

Did the pressure finally get to Simone Biles? Or is she in the middle of a concerning mental-health crisis? Or is she physically injured? Maybe a bit of all three. Different answers were provided Tuesday — first by her U.S. gymnastics leaders, then by the most decorated gymnast in American history herself.

This, after Biles shockingly pulled herself from the women’s team gymnastics competitio­n at the Tokyo Summer Olympics on Tuesday night, Japan time, following an uncharacte­ristically poor vault, her first attempt in one of the events in which she has been practicall­y peerless since early last decade.

According to The Associated Press, Biles was to have attempted an Amanar vault, which “requires a roundoff back handspring onto the table, followed by 2½ twists.” Instead, Biles shortened it to 1½ twists off the table — then bounced forward awkwardly off her landing.

The shocked 24-year-old did not appear to limp while walking back to her team area, but she sat down with the team doctor, Marcia Faustin, then left the area to go backstage. Upon her return to the floor several minutes later, Biles hugged teammates and took off her uneven-bar gloves. Her right leg was heavily wrapped, reports said.

USA Gymnastics soon released this statement, as the competitio­n continued: “Simone has withdrawn from the team final competitio­n due to a medical issue. She will be assessed daily to determine medical clearance for future competitio­ns.”

The women’s all-around final is Thursday. Biles has not lost any all-around competitio­n since 2013.

Individual women’s gymnastics medal events go Sunday (vault and uneven bars), Monday (floor exercise) and Tuesday (balance beam).

Without Biles in floor-x, bars and beam, the Americans failed to win gold in the Olympics team competitio­n for the first time since 2008, and in for the first time in any major internatio­nal meet since 2010. The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) edged the Americans 169.528 points to 166.096. Great Britain won bronze with 164.096.

Biles was the first American gymnast to congratula­te the Russians, reports said.

An hour or so later, Biles and her teammates took reporter questions at a news conference. That’s when Biles changed the narrative completely. She said she, in fact, is not physically injured.

“I just felt like it would be a little bit better to take a back seat, work on my mindfulnes­s,” Biles said, according to tweets from attending Dallas Morning News reporter Callie Caplan. “I knew the girls would do a great job, and I didn’t want to risk a team medal for my screwups.”

Following Monday’s team-competitio­n preliminar­ies, Biles posted on Instagram that she had “got through” a bad day after “truly” feeling as though she had “the weight of the world on my shoulders at times. I know I brush it off and make it seem like pressure doesn’t affect me but, damn, sometimes it’s hard, hahaha! The Olympics is no joke!”

Even in the pressure-less warm-up just prior to Tuesday’s team final, Biles shortened her Amanar practice vault to 1½ twists, Caplan tweeted. Biles is not hurt, she insisted later at the news conference.

“That’s why I took a step back, because I didn’t want to do something silly out there ... It’s been really stressful this Olympic Games.

“I was just shaking, could barely nap. I (had) never felt like this going into a competitio­n before. I tried to have fun ... but once I came out here, I was like, ‘No, mental’s not there.’ ”

‘IT WAS A REALLY TALENTED AND FAST FIELD THAT HAD BEEN SWIMMING CRAZY FAST THIS WHOLE YEAR. ALL I WAS TRYING TO FOCUS ON WAS MYSELF, AND I’M PROUD OF MYSELF FOR GETTING ON THE PODIUM ...’ — KYLIE MASSE, ON WINNING SILVER IN 100-METRE BACKSTROKE

 ?? JAMIE SQUIRE/GETTY IMAGES ?? Simone Biles of the United States stumbles upon landing a vault during the gymnastics women’s team final at the 2020 Olympic Games.
JAMIE SQUIRE/GETTY IMAGES Simone Biles of the United States stumbles upon landing a vault during the gymnastics women’s team final at the 2020 Olympic Games.
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