Simone Biles today gave the strongest clue yet that she is not prepared to continue her quest for Olympic gold and raised fears she may quit the Olympics.
The 24-year-old gymnastics star revealed that she is still struggling to steady her nerves and her competition skills as she decides whether to return to the Olympic arena or walk away from her dream of adding more gold medals to her already-impressive tally.
Biles, a four-time Olympic gold medalist, did a question-and-answer session for her followers, during which she laid bare her current below-standard ability, which also opening up about her mental health struggles and battle with the ‘twisties’ – a mental phenomenon that causes gymnasts to feel as though they are ‘lost in the air’.
Viewers were invited to witness a training calamity, which was filmed this morning in Tokyo, and which is certain to leave Team USA officials pondering whether Biles should quit the Olympics and fly home to take care of her health.
In her Instagram video, Simone is seen going through her routine on the uneven bars during training – however when she performs her dismount, which requires her to twist her body around in the air, she failed to land on her feet and instead crashed to the mat, falling flat on her back.
Biles’ usual dismount – a double twisting somersault – requires her to complete two twists in the air before landing on her feet, facing away from the bars.
However, in one of the videos that she posted, the gymnast only managed to complete half of a twist, before plummeting to the mat and landing flat on her back. A second clip showed her completing one-and-a-half twists, before making the same crash landing.
Such a fault which would cost her heavily in points in Olympic competition if she were to resume her dreams of adding to the four golds and one silver she secured in Rio five years ago.
The twisties can also result in serious injury, leaving gymnasts unable to spot their landing correctly and therefore leaving them at risk of a dangerous fall.
Speaking about the struggle with the issue in the caption of her videos, Biles hit out at those who have criticized her decision to withdraw from both the team and all-around finals, insisting that she did not ‘quit’, while noting that mental health is just as serious as physical health.
‘For anyone saying I quit. I didn’t quit, my mind and body are simply not in sync,’ she wrote.
‘As you can see [in the video]. I don’t think you realize how hard this is on hard/competition surface.
‘Nor do I have to explain why I put health first. Physical health is mental health.’
In a second caption, Biles explained that she had not been experiencing the twisties before traveling to Tokyo, and she hit out at those who suggested that she should have removed herself from competition before it started – insisting that by the time she started struggling, it was too late for an alternate to replace her.
