Simone Biles Wins Bronze In Beam For Her Olympic Return
Simone Biles is back and she’s won another medal.
Biles made her Olympic comeback winning bronze in the beams final with a score of 14.000 for her routine. This comes after taking off from her individual events because of having the “twisties” which are when gymnasts feel as though they are losing awareness of where they are in a jump, and in their relation to the ground.
“I’m pretty happy. I wasn’t expecting to medal. I just came out here and tried to do a good beam set,” Biles said at a press conference after the beam final per PEOPLE.
Biles added: “Just to have one more opportunity to compete at the Olympics means the world to me. I just was trying to go out there and hit a good beam set and compete one more time at these Olympic Games because I qualified for all five finals but then I pulled out. It sucked but I was excited to be in the stands and cheering for all of Team USA.”
The four-time Olympic gold medalist emphasized the importance of maintaining mental health especially with the pressures that come along with performing at the highest athletic level.
“To bring up the topic of mental health, I think it should be talked about a lot more, especially with athletes because I know some of us are going through the same things, and we’re always told to push through it, but we are all a little older now, and we can kind of speak for ourselves. At the end of the day, we’re not just entertainment. We’re human, and there are things going on behind the scenes that we’re also trying to juggle with, as well, on top of sports.”
Biles’ teammate Sunisa “Suni” Lee–who won the Tokyo Games women’s gymnastics individual all-around champion–also competed in the beams final coming in fifth with a score of 13.866.
The gold medal went to Guan Chenchen of China with 14.633, and her teammate Tang Xijing took the silver with her score of 14.233.
