TOKYO — Simone Biles will skip the event finals for vault and uneven bars, still not ready to compete again after losing her sense of where she is in the air.
The announcement was made Saturday morning. Biles also has qualified for Monday’s floor exercise final and Tuesday’s balance beam final. A decision on her availability for those two events has yet to be made.
"Today, 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," USA Gymnastics said in a statement Saturday morning. "We remain in awe of Simone, who continues to handle this situation with courage and grace, and all of the athletes who have stepped up during these unexpected circumstances."
Biles will be replaced in the vault final by fellow American MyKayla Skinner. Skinner was fourth on vault in qualifying, but Jade Carey and Biles were ahead of her and countries are limited to two gymnasts per final.
Biles’ spot in the uneven bars final will be filled by the first reserve, which currently is France’s Melanie de Jesus dos Santos.
Biles came to Tokyo as the biggest star of these Olympics, projected to win a record five gold medals. She pulled out of the team competition Tuesday after one event, saying mental health issues were manifesting themselves in “the twisties,” a loss of air awareness.
Biles had attempted to do an Amanar, one of the most difficult vaults being done by women but second nature to Biles. But she fell out of the air one twist short, and barely got it to her feet. On her Instagram story Friday, Biles said she was still experiencing the “twisties” but, unlike her previous experience with them, they were now affecting her on all four events rather than just vault and floor.
“It’s honestly petrifying trying to do a skill but not having your mind & body in sync,” Biles wrote. “10/10 do not recommend.”
She posted two videos of her trying to do her double twisting somersault dismount on uneven bars, and it was clear she was not herself. In the first video, she got through a half twist before suddenly dropping out of the air and landing flat on her back. In the second, she makes it 1½ times around.
In both videos, she is landing on mats placed over a pit filled with foam blocks. In competition, however, she would have to do her skills on a hard, unforgiving surface.
Biles deleted the videos within about an hour of posting them, though she later re-posted the text that had accompanied them.
“I don’t think you realize how dangerous this is on hard/competition surface,” Biles wrote.
“Sometimes I can’t even fathom twisting,” she added. “I seriously cannot comprehend how to twist.”
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