Simone Biles Withdrew From The 2020 Tokyo Games Women’s Team Gymnastics Final Citing Mental Health Concerns

Welp. There goes the only reason I was gonna ask my cousin for her Hulu with Live TV password. According to The Guardian, star American gymnast, Simone Biles withdrew from the Women’s Team competition at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics citing “mental health concerns.” As if we didn’t already know that having these games was a terrible idea based on the fact that the games being held in 2021 are still called the 2020 Games, presumably because they had already ordered the beer cozies. Between the pandemic and the beds by Office Depot, it’s no wonder these games are taking a psychological toll on athletes like Simone who has said that she was feeling the “weight of the world” on her shoulders.

At this rate, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics are probably going to go down in history as the most ill-conceived games since the one with all the Nazis. According to CNN:

Simone Biles had to withdraw from the women’s team gymnastic final on Tuesday as the Russia Olympic Committee (ROC) took gold at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

The ROC’s team of Vladislava Urazova, Viktoriia Listunova and Angelina Melnikova won with a score of 169.528, while Team USA took silver with 166.096 and Great Britain bronze with 164.096.

Biles withdrew from the final on Tuesday after leaving the arena to be attended to by the trainer.

When Simone first withdrew, USA Gymnastics issued a statement that said it was due to a “medical issue” and that she would be “assessed daily to determine medical clearance for future competitions.” But according to The New York Times, Simone chose to bow out because “she was afraid she would be injured if she continued in a rattled state of mind.”

Biles, Team U.S.A.’s star, said she pulled out of the event because she wasn’t in the right place mentally to perform the difficult and often dangerous skills she is known for, after feeling so much pressure to be successful. She had been struggling with the stress of being the greatest gymnast in history, she said, and outside expectations were just too hard to combat.

Before the event on Tuesday, she said she began “fighting all of those demons,” and couldn’t hold them back.

“At the end of the day, I have to do what was right for me,” she said, adding, “It just sucks that it happened at the Olympic Games.”

True story. I was out walking the dog the other day and I tripped on the pavement and had a technical down in front of a couple of teenagers and now I’m never going to walk on that street ever again. So I get it. Here’s Simone detailing the extraordinary toll the Pandemic Games has taken on the athletes.

Simone Biles pulled out of the women’s gymnastics team final earlier. "I just felt like it would be a little bit better to take a backseat, work on my mindfulness and I knew that the girls would do an absolutely great job and I didn't want to risk the team a medal," she said pic.twitter.com/o9uhkg1EPu

— TIME (@TIME) July 27, 2021

And here she is encouraging her teammates as she left the competition, cheering them on as they clinched the silver medal, congratulating Team Russia on their 1st place finish, and just being an all-around incredible source of pride. And to think, when I fell down my teammate just looked at me like “bitch, what are you doing down there? Oh shit, did you drop a treat!?!”

Simone Biles cheered on her teammates after withdrawing from the Women’s Gymnastics Team Final ❤️

USA Gymnastics said Biles left because of a “medical issue.”

Ultimate teammate 👏 pic.twitter.com/E7AUjgN0xI

— ESPN (@espn) July 27, 2021

Simone Biles was one of the first athletes to congratulate the Russian Olympic Committee gymnasts on their gold medal 👏 pic.twitter.com/fxTqSoW7ty

— espnW (@espnW) July 27, 2021

Simone has not said yet whether or not she plans on competing in any individual events later in the week.

“I’m just dealing with a few things. We have a couple more days. We’re going to figure it out.”

Simone Biles speaks to reporters after the #artisticgymnastics team final.

The individual all-around is set for 29 July.#StrongerTogether | #Tokyo2020https://t.co/Pw02eltk8x

— Olympics (@Olympics) July 27, 2021

That is so much pressure and Simone is just 24 years old. That said, when I was 24, I struggled with the decision whether to call in sick so I could hang around and smoke weed all day, or go into work so I could hang around and smoke weed all day. So I get it.

Pic: Twitter