American gymnastics sensation Simone Biles will not be defending her individual all-around gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. After pulling out of the women's gymnastics team final event on Tuesday, Biles, the most prominent American athlete at the Summer Games, will not be participating in Thursday's all-around competition.
Biles withdrew from the team final to focus on her mental health, and she is not participating in the all-around for the same reason, USA Gymnastics announced early Wednesday.
"After further medical evaluation, Simone Biles has withdrawn from the final individual all-around competition at the Tokyo Olympic Games, in order to focus on her mental health," the USA Gymnastics statement read. "Simone will continue to be evaluated daily to determine whether or not to participate in next week's event finals."
Jade Carey, who finished ninth in qualifications for Team USA, will replace Biles in the event.
During the team final, Biles participated in the vault -- her best event. She made one attempt but earned an uncharacteristic 13.766 after having trouble with her landing. After the attempt, Biles left the competition floor and returned in her warm-up clothes. It was announced she had pulled out of the rest of the competition.
"Physically, I feel good, I'm in shape," Biles told Hoda Kotb on NBC's "Today" following her withdrawal. "Emotionally, that kind of varies on the time and moment. Coming to the Olympics and being head star isn't an easy feat, so we're just trying to take it one day at a time and we'll see."
While Biles will not participate in the all-around, it remains to be seen whether she will go for gold in the vault, floor and balance beam finals.
