Tokyo (AFP)
New package for Simone Biles: after giving up the all-around competition for the Tokyo Olympics, the American gymnastics superstar on Saturday abandoned his next two meetings, scheduled for Sunday.
Will we see Simone Biles in competition again during these Olympics of which she was to be one of the main attractions?
While she qualified for six individual finals, there are now only two left on her program, since she gave up on Saturday the vault and uneven bars that take place on Sunday.
"After further discussions with medical staff, Simone Biles has decided to forfeit the vault and uneven bars finals," said the American Gymnastics Federation on Twitter.
This announcement comes as no surprise: Friday, the four-time Olympic champion in Rio posted on Instagram a video showing her in training and falling during her uneven bars outings, suggesting that she was not in condition to compete.
Even though USA Gymnastics has reiterated that the gymnast's condition "will be assessed daily" to decide whether or not she will compete in the last two finals (floor Monday and beam Tuesday), seeing her competing in Tokyo again seems speculative, especially since 'she confessed on Friday that she was having difficulty on "all apparatus".
- Loss of face -
After having a problem on vault during the team qualifying, which led him to give up the competition, Biles, 24, had expressed with great frankness the need to "face his demons" and to preserve his sanity after having had a lot of pressure to succeed in recent weeks.
In addition to these psychological torments, the five-time world champion in the all-around (2013, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019) also mentioned a loss of landmarks in space, what gymnasts call the "loss of figure", which can be reinforced or caused by stress and above all endanger an athlete.
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"To those who say I'm giving up. I'm not giving up, my mind and body just aren't in sync, as you can see here," she said, commenting on the video posted Friday as if to silence those who accuse him of deserting in the middle of the Olympics.
Others on the contrary praise her courage to have said stop, in the name of her mental and physical health, at the right time, and moreover to come to support and encourage her teammates in the forum.
"On the one hand, she admits having problems, which is already courageous. And at the same time, she applauds her teammates and is present to support the one who succeeds her in the prize list during the all-around competition", thus greeted the president of the CIO Thomas Bach, attributing to him "great human qualities".
- "Grace and courage" -
Biles was for months presented as "THE" star of these Olympics, with great hits on magazine covers and TV spots.
Everyone saw her breaking records, and yet it could be that she leaves Japan with only one medal, that of the silver of the all-around team where she made only one jump.
"I have the impression that I do not take as much fun as before. I know that it is the Games, I wanted to do them for myself only but I take part in fact for others than me", had -she launched between laughter and tears the night she put on her tracksuit in full competition.
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Considered the greatest gymnast of all time, Biles has already overcome many challenges.
She was adopted by her biological grandparents because her mother was an alcoholic and drug addict.
And in 2018, she revealed she was sexually assaulted by US gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar, a predator who claimed dozens of lives.
USA Gymnastics, which Simone Biles accused of passivity in the Nassar case, said on Saturday that it was "in awe of the way Simone Biles is handling the situation", with "grace and courage".
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