Simone Biles will miss more time at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics as she continues to prioritize her mental health.
The superstar American gymnast has withdrawn from this week’s women’s individual all-around competition. USA Gymnastics announced the decision Wednesday afternoon in Japan.
Biles’ status for next week’s individual finals is uncertain.
Biles’ participation in the all-around was in question after she withdrew from the team final Tuesday. She told her teammates on the floor that she was bowing out. Team USA held on on for a silver medal.
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Biles told reporters “the mental is not there.”
“It’s been really stressful this Olympic Games,” she said. “It’s been a long week, it’s been a long Olympic process, it’s been a long year. So just a lot of different variables and I think we’re just a little bit too stressed out, but we should be out here having fun and sometimes that’s not the case.”
She did not commit at the time to the returning for the all-around, which begins Thursday. She is entered in the finals of four individual events: vault, uneven bars, floor exercise and balance beam. Those events will take place Aug. 1-3.
Biles, 24, made a public concession to the pressure of the Olympics after Sunday’s team prelims, where the Americans surprisingly finished second to Russia.
“It wasn’t an easy day or my best but I got through it. I truly do feel like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders at times,” Biles wrote on Instagram. “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!”
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