Simone Biles will not defend her Olympic title in Thursday's individual all-around competition in order to focus on her mental health, USA Gymnastics has confirmed.
The four-time gold medallist from Rio completed only one event in Tuesday's team competition at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre, registering the lowest score of the first rotation.
Biles left the floor with a trainer and, although she later returned donned in a tracksuit, she opted not to continue and remained to support her team-mates who could only secure silver behind the Russian Olympic Committee.
Following the team event, Biles opened up on her struggles at Tokyo 2020 and said she would take it day-by-day before making a decision.
USA Gymnastics subsequently announced she will not participate on Thursday and will continue to be evaluated before a decision is made on whether she takes part in the individual event finals, which take place next week.
"After further medical evaluation, Simone Biles has withdrawn from the final individual all-around competition at the Tokyo Olympic Games, in order to focus on her mental health," a USA Gymnastics statement read.
"Simone will continue to be evaluated daily to determine whether or not to participate in next week’s individual event finals. Jade Carey, who had the ninth highest score in qualifications, will participate in her place in the all-around."
USA Gymnastics hailed Biles for her decision to put her own well-being ahead of competing.
"We wholeheartedly support Simone's decision and applaud her bravery in prioritising her well-being," the governing body added.
"Her courage shows, yet again, why she is a role model for so many."
Bajan coach Alison Jackson cautiously optimistic about chances in inaugural Carifta Gymnastics Champs
With the inaugural Carifta Gymnastics Championships fast approaching, Barbados head coach Alison Jackson expressed cautious optimism about her team’s chances of topping rivals at the event, which will be held at the National Indoor Sports Centre in Jamaica.
Jackson, a long-time coach of Flip Gym, shared her views shortly after a 15-member team was named to represent the Barbados Gymnastics Association (BAGA) at the November 29-30 event.
She believes that despite Barbados being represented internationally at various levels over the years, the island is still yet to reach its full potential, and that scope for growth is again evident where team selection is concerned.
"Well, I have to say that we are at a disadvantage in terms of athlete selection. I’m the only one that offers a competitive programme at the moment, so all of the gymnasts have been selected from my gym through my staff. We sat and discussed and looked at results for the season to make our recommendations to the association about who we think our top athletes are going to be at each level,” Jackson said.
“Trinidad is ahead of us in terms of how long they’ve had organised gymnastics classes going. So Trinidad alone has 17 clubs to choose from. So our group is very small, we only have 15 girls going, but we’ve picked the best of our 15 girls. So I expect to definitely be coming back with some medals for Barbados,” she added.
The Carifta Gymnastics Championships, which has been under consideration for years now, will now come to fruition, with teams from Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago, Aruba, The Bahamas, Bermuda, and the Cayman Islands set to take part.
“It’s finally happening. Jamaica is hosting the first one, and we are going to be having most of the countries in our region follow the USA’s developmental programme, which is level-based,” Jackson, a former vice president of BAGA, shared.
“So there’s 10 levels, so they’re going to have that, as well as elite level gymnastics, which is the International Gymnastics Federation or FIG level gymnastics. So there’ll be two streams, which is great because not all of the islands have elite level gymnasts as yet. So we’ll give all the kids who are eligible an opportunity to compete and represent their country at the Carifta Games at whatever level they’re at,” she explained.
That said, Jackson expressed hope that the advent of a regional competition for gymnastics will show people that Caribbean kids have other possible pathways to excel on the international stage.
“We’re hoping that it will broaden everybody’s horizons and bring more awareness to gymnastics generally within our own island and across the Caribbean. I’ve been coaching kids in Barbados for years. I’ve taken kids to the USA; I’ve taken them to training camps with the US national team coaches. I mean, we’ve done lots of stuff, but everyone’s just thinking this is only starting now. But it’s been going on for a long time, so it’s just getting it out there and getting more recognition,” Jackson noted.
Barbados team: Jazara Lavine, Ciara Freeman, Za’Nyah Bostic-White, Daniella Small, Juliette Sonny, Mariah Gill, Cyrina Walcott-Lloyd, Oyinda Buluro, Amber Haynes, Dominique Thompson, Khaleesi Marshall, Sya Franklyn, Freya-Rose Smith, Thaliyah Dowrich, Mishka Mapp.
Biles: Olympic performance beyond my wildest dreams
Simone Biles feels she achieved beyond her "wildest dreams" at the Paris Olympic Games despite failing to add to her three gold medals for the year on Monday.
Having won gold in the team, all-around and vault events, Biles was looking to round off her trip to France with more success in Monday's balance beam and floor finals.
However, the Team USA star fell from the beam and finished fifth in the former event before missing out on gold in the latter, instead taking silver behind Brazil's Rebeca Andrade.
Overall, Biles has now won 11 Olympic medals in total – seven gold, two silver and two bronze.
Larisa Latynina, who won 18 medals for the Soviet Union, is the most successful female gymnast in Olympic history.
She was not upset with herself for failing to get closer to that record, though, telling reporters: "I'm not upset about my performance, I'm actually happy, proud and even more excited that it's over, the stress of it.
"I've accomplished way more than my wildest dreams, not just at this Olympics but in the sport, so I can't be mad at my performances.
"I'm pretty proud of myself and it's always so exciting to compete."
Biles' compatriot Jordan Chiles took bronze in the floor event following a successful appeal to her score, after which the two Americans bowed to Andrade on the podium.
"First, it was an all-black podium so that was super exciting for us but then Jordan was like 'should we bow to her?' and I was like, 'absolutely'," Biles said.
"She's such an excitement to watch. It was just the right thing to do."
Biles wins third gold in Paris with emphatic vault victory
American star Simone Biles collected her third gold medal of the Paris Olympics as she triumphed in the vault final on Saturday.
Biles took her overall Olympics tally to seven gold medals as she recorded an average score of 15.300.
The 27-year-old, who withdrew from several events, including the vault, at Tokyo 2020, is now the third most decorated female gymnast in the history of the Olympics, with 10 medals to her name.
She will take part in the floor and beam finals on Monday, meaning she could overtake Vera Caslavska's tally of 11, won between 1960 and 1968.
Larisa Latynina, with 18 golds, is the most successful female gymnast in Olympic history.
Rebeca Andrade of Brazil, who won gold in Tokyo three years ago, claimed silver, while Biles' team-mate Jade Carey took bronze.
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