Gymnast Simone Biles will not be competing in the floor exercise event final at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. This comes after she pulled out of the finals for the vault and uneven bars. USA Gymnastics announced that Biles has withdrawn from the most recent of the competitions on Saturday night, and she will make a decision on Tuesday's balance beam final later in the week.
Here is USA Gymnastics' statement on Biles' decision to pull out of the first of the three event finals.
After further consultation with medical staff, Simone Biles has decided to withdraw from the event finals for vault and the uneven bars. She will continue to be evaluated daily to determine whether to compete in the finals for floor exercise and balance beam. pic.twitter.com/kWqgZJK4LJ
— USA Gymnastics (@USAGym) July 31, 2021
All of this comes after Biles withdrew from the women's gymnastics team final event last week and followed that up by withdrawing from the individual all-around competition earlier this week. She was replaced by U.S. gymnastics teammate Jade Carey, who finished eighth.
During the team final, Biles did begin by participating in the vault, which is traditionally her best event. Biles ended up making one attempt in the vault, but earned an uncharacteristic 13.766 after being unable to cleanly stick her landing.
Following her attempt, the 24-year-old left the competition floor and later returned in her warm-up attire. Just moments later, it was announced that Biles had withdrawn from the remainder of the team final.
The United States did end up earning a silver medal in the team final following Biles' departure.
"Physically, I feel good, I'm in shape," Biles told Hoda Kotb on NBC's "Today" following her withdrawal on Tuesday. "Emotionally, that kind of varies on the time and moment. Coming to the Olympics and being head star isn't an easy feat, so we're just trying to take it one day at a time and we'll see."
Despite Biles not participating in the individual all-around competition, the Americans still had plenty of success in the event as Suni Lee won the gold medal. Lee turned in an exceptional performance that featured a 15.300 score on the uneven bars, which was the highest score of any gymnast in the all-around final. It also marked the fifth consecutive Summer Olympics in which an American gymnast won the gold medal in the women's individual all-around event.
