Tokyo 2020: Simone Biles had to leave the final for artistic gymnastics teams

07/27/2021 8:59 AM

• Clarín.com

• sports

Updated 07/27/2021 9:10 AM

"Sometimes I really feel like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders," Simone Biles had acknowledged on Monday, after a difficult qualification that had given her access to the six artistic gymnastics finals at the Tokyo Olympics.

That weight seemed to be transferred to her body on Tuesday: the American left the team final after having intervened only in one device.

In the first rotation, the gymnast born in Columbus (Ohio) on March 14, 1997, did not perform a good jump on the colt (she could only do one and a half of the two and a half planned twists) that earned her a grade of 13,766, the lowest among her companions and the Russians, with whom they shared the rotation.

After that, Biles sat on the bench and spoke with coach Cecile Landi.

He then left the competition area for a few minutes, apparently in physical discomfort.

Simone Biles did not make a good jump on the colt on Tuesday.

Then he dropped out of the team event.

(Photo: Ashley Landis / AP)

When he returned, he had to intervene on uneven bars (his presence was announced on all four devices), but his name disappeared from the American payroll.

She was replaced by Jordan Chiles.

Shortly after, his withdrawal from the rest of the tests was confirmed.

The big question now is whether the winner of 19 world titles will be available to compete in the five finals that lie ahead: on Thursday she would have to participate in the individual general test and between Sunday and Tuesday next she would have to do so in those of the four specialties (jump, floor, colt, uneven bars).

In these Games, Biles, who obtained four gold medals and one bronze in Rio de Janeiro 2016, faces the possibility of equaling (and even surpassing) the record of nine gold medals of the Soviet Larisa Latynina, which the achieved between Melbourne 1956, Rome 1960 and Tokyo 1964.

On Sunday, Biles had agreed to the six finals at stake and had finished as the leader of the general contest, although she had made some unusual mistakes in her.

“It was not an easy day or my best day, but I got through it.

It seems that the pressure does not affect me, but sometimes it is difficult ”, had admitted the best gymnast in the world.