Image source,Getty Images
Simone Biles withdrew midway through the finals of the Tokyo Olympic women’s gymnastics team.
Four-time Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles retired midway through the finals of the Tokyo Olympic Women’s Gymnastics team. After that, she said that she must “care about my mental health.”
The American star left the stadium for a while after her test jump, but then returned to support her teammates. The American team finally ranked behind the Russian Olympic Committee and won the silver medal.
The 24-year-old Byers scored 13.766 in the vault event-her lowest score in the Olympic vault, after which she withdrew from the competition.
“After my performance, I really don’t want to continue,” she said, “I have to pay attention to my mental health. I really feel that mental health problems are now more common in the sports field.”
“We must protect our body and mind, not just come out and do what the world wants us to do.”
Image source,Getty Images
She then returned to the arena to cheer for her teammates.
Byers is the most successful athlete in the history of American gymnastics, winning 4 gold medals and one bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics. But she never seemed to be able to find her status in the preliminary round on Sunday (July 25). In the team final on Thursday, she withdrew after the start of the vault.
Afterwards, she said: “I don’t have that confidence in myself anymore, maybe because I’m older. Two days when everyone sends you a message on Twitter, you feel the weight of the whole world. .”
“We are not just athletes, we are human after all, sometimes you just can’t retreat.”
“I don’t want to go out and do some stupid things and get hurt. I feel that there are many athletes who speak out, which is really helpful.”
“This is too big. This is the Olympics. After all, we don’t want to be carried away on a stretcher.”
Image source,Getty Images
The 24-year-old Byers scored 13.766 in the vault event.
In May, Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka retired at the French Open because he wanted to protect his mental health. This move has received public support from several people in the sports world, including the heptathlon athlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson and basketball star Stephen Curry (Stephen Curie). .
Byers has reached the finals of all five individual events, and she has not yet decided whether she will play in the next Thursday game. At that time, she had to strive to become the first since 1968 to successfully defend the women’s Olympic individual all-around gold medal.
USA Gymnastics issued a statement on Twitter, saying: “Simon Byers withdrew from the team final due to health reasons. She will be evaluated daily to medically determine whether she is suitable for future competitions. .”
This athlete, who has won 30 Olympic and World Championships medals, needs to be on the podium four times in Tokyo if he wants to become the person with the most medals in history, including men and women.
“About Thursday, we will look at it again,” Byers said. “We will face it day by day and see how it goes.”
“goat”
Image source,Getty Images
Byers was born in Ohio, USA in 1997 and was adopted by her grandparents at the age of five. She grew up in Texas and first came into contact with gymnastics when she was six years old on a trip-when the club asked her to take home a letter asking her to join.
In order to be able to train, she received home education. When she was 19 years old, she was already the world‘s female gymnast with the most gold medals in the World Championships.
Byers’ coach said that this gymnastics wizard can learn a new technique in three days, while others may take months or even years to master a new movement.
Her strong sprinting power allows her to complete more elements than others in the same set of actions, and other people have to run a longer distance to start rolling.
Image source,Getty Images/Twitter
She has her own official Twitter emoji and is the first female athlete to receive this treatment.
Byers’ strongest point is floor exercises, and she even invented her own signature movement-a straight backflip for two and a half weeks and a turn to land.
At the highest point of this action called “The Biles”, she would be in the air twice her height-four feet and eight inches high.
Byers’ achievements have made her one of the most famous players in the sport. Earlier this year, she joked that she would stick a goat on her catsuit in response to criticisms that she was overconfident—”goat” (goat) is widely used in English. Abbreviation for “Greatest Of All Time” (Greatest Of All Time).
Since then, she has her own official Twitter emoji — of course, a goat — and she is the first female athlete to receive this treatment.
Throughout the Olympic Games, this pattern will appear in all posts using the hashtag “#SimoneBiles” or “#Simone”.