August 02, (THEWILL) – The USA multiple-winning Olympian gymnast Simone Biles has decided to compete again at the Tokyo Games in Japan and will enter Tuesday’s balance beam final at the 2021 Summer Olympics.
THEWILL had reported on Biles’ withdrawal from the team and individual all-round events on the grounds of her mental health.
The announcement of the return of the multi-talented 24-year-old came through USA Gymnastics, who revealed on Monday that she will be competing in the balance beam. Biles had won the event’s bronze medal in Rio de Janeiro at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil.
Arguably the biggest name in Olympics gymnastics and the greatest gymnast the sport has ever seen, Biles shook off the aura of invincibility around her when she came public with the fact that she had been struggling with a mental-health block known colloquially within the sport as the “twisties.”
The Twisties refer to a phenomenon that causes the body of a gymnast to go out of sync with their minds. It is a dangerous and unnerving condition to be in and can end catastrophically if not attended to especially given the speed of their flips and the high degrees of difficulty the athletes put into the stunts of their performances.
In a post via her official account on the photo-sharing social media platform Instagram on Friday, Biles described her condition to her followers: “Literally cannot tell up from down. It’s the craziest feeling ever. Not having an inch of control over your body. What’s even scarier is since I have no idea where I am in the air I also have NO idea how I’m going to land, or what I’m going to land on. Head/hands/feet/back.
“I also have no idea how I landed on my feet on that vault because if you look at the pictures and my eyes you can see how confused I am as to where I am in the air.
“Thankfully I landed safe enough but I also don’t think some of you realize I was supposed to do a 2 1/2 and I only completed 1 1/2 twists before it looks like I got shot out of the air.”
Forthwith, Biles withdrew from the team competition, individual all-around, vault and uneven bars while working behind the scenes on her mental health to know if there was a chance for her to get back into competing again.
That time has apparently come as the announcement from USA gymnastics points to her being in a better frame of mind to compete. When she takes to the beam, Biles will be aiming to add an Olympic gold to her three World Championships on the beam.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
