Gymnastics superstar Simone Biles took to Instagram to praise her Olympic teammates after she decided to withdraw from the team final.
According to reports, she suffered a dramatic upset at the team final in Tokyo when she suddenly pulled out from the competition to ‘focus on her mental health.’
Biles shared a photo of her and teammates Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, and Grace McCallum on Instagram showing off their silver medals after they won second.
“OLYMPIC SILVER MEDALISTS,” she wrote as Russia’s athletes claimed the gold.
“I’m SO proud of these girls right here. You girls are incredibly brave & talented! I’ll forever be inspired by your determination to not give up and to fight through adversity! They stepped up when I couldn’t. thanks for being there for me and having my back! forever love y’all.”
Chiles commented on the Instagram post, writing: “You will forever be loved. We can’t thank you enough. You have such a huge inspiration on all of us. We wouldn’t have done it without you. love you mo.”
Biles explained that she made the decision out of fear that she would cost her teammates their chance at winning a medal and to prioritize her ‘wellbeing.’
“To focus on my wellbeing,” she said to reporters.
“And you know, there’s more to life than just gymnastics. It is very unfortunate that it has to happen at this stage because I definitely wanted this Olympics to go a little bit better but again, we’ll take it one day at a time and we’re going to see how the rest goes.”
It is not clear whether Simone will join in the five individual event finals.
She told Hoda Kotb on TODAY that she felt fine physically. However, the huge expectations on her entering the Olympics have had an effect.
“Emotionally, that kind of varies on the time and moment,” she expressed. “Coming here to the Olympics and being the head star isn’t an easy feat, so we’re just trying to take it one day at a time and we’ll see.”
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