Thursday 28 / November / 2024
Tokyo (Japan): American gymnast Simone Biles on Tuesday clinched a bronze medal in the women's balance beam final in the ongoing Tokyo Olympics.
The Rio 2016 gold-medal-winning athlete registered a score of 14.000 to claim the third position. Chinese athletes Tang Xijing and Guan Chenchen won the silver and gold medals respectively. Last week Biles had cited mental health concerns and pulled out of the women's team final and she was fully supported by the team.
"Whenever you get in a high stress situation, you kind of freak out. I have to focus on my mental health and not jeopardize my health and well-being," CNN had quoted Biles as saying.
The American gymnast said her team wanted her to go ahead and compete but she didn't want to put a medal at risk.
USA Gymnastics on Monday announced that Biles will participate in the balance beam final along with Suni Lee in the ongoing Tokyo Olympics.
On her Instagram story on Friday, Biles detailed her struggles in training with the "twisties," a gymnastics term for when a gymnast's body and mind seemingly stop working together.
"My mind and body are simply not in sync," Biles wrote in one of her story slides. "For anyone saying I quit. I didn't quit."
The 24-year-old also posted now-deleted videos showing her getting lost in the air on two attempts at her uneven bars dismount, a double-twisting, double back.
