Simone Biles thought 'she might die' if she performed gymnast move at Olympics

22 December 2023 , 00:18

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A new book takes readers behind the scenes of Simone Biles' Olympic withdrawal in 2021. (Image: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

A new book claims Simone Biles thought "she might die" if she performed a certain move before pulling out of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

The most decorated gymnast in Olympic history, Biles made headlines in Japan when she pulled out of the team finals after one routine. She was suffering from the "twisties", a sensation where a gymnast feels lost and out of control when airborne.

Part of her routine in the team event would have been a vault with two and a half twists, but according to "Religion of Sports", written by Gotham Chopra and published earlier this month, Biles told family members she felt so unsafe doing the trick that she could cause herself serious harm, leading her to tell her teammates "I don't want to do something stupid".

Biles, now 26, phoned her mother, Nellie, who was ready to watch her daughter with many family members gathered around a TV in Houston, Texas. According to Chopra, Nellie told her daughter to put herself first.

"You can't do it? That's OK. That's okay, honey. They will do their best without you," the book claims Nellie said to Simone. "I don't want you going out there if you're not in a good place. You don't need to go out there and hurt yourself. That's just not right.

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"You need to take care of yourself," the mother reportedly continued. "I love you. Just take some deep breaths and just know we're praying for you, OK?" Once she put the phone down, the book claims Nellie told her family members: "That's it, she's done. She just pulled out. She says she can't do it."

Simone Biles said she felt like she "might die" if she were to perform a particular move. (Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

Biles' decision not to compete in the team event was divisive. She was widely supported and praised for being true to herself and her feelings and prioritising her mental health, but she was accused from some quarters of letting her teammates down. With Biles' one attempt at the vault counting to the team score, they won a silver medal, losing out to Russia.

The book gives insight into what she said to her family in the face of the scrutiny. It reads: "I'm like, 'Actually, first, I didn't lose any medal. If I would've continued, I probably would have gotten injured. They wouldn't have been able to replace [my scores]'.

"They don't even know the process of it. They just think I quit. I don't think they realize that on the vault, I didn't do what I was supposed to. They didn't even process it."

Biles pulled out of numerous individual events in the following days, citing her mental health and saying she was inspired by Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka, who stepped back from the game for an extensive period to prioritise her mental wellbeing. However, Biles did compete in the balance beam, winning a bronze medal, taking her haul of Olympic medals to seven.

Sam Frost