Simone Biles opens up about 'twisties,' making best decision for team | Tokyo Olympics | NBC Sports

I really wasn't medically cleared to do the other events that I had qualified into so tonight I just wanted to get up there have fun you may be routine and then just see what happens so medically cleared is an interesting term and we've heard medical and you brought up the mental part of this as well who was medically clearing you and when did you find out that you're were gonna be medically cleared to compete so the FIG doctor as well as our team doctor %HESITATION and then I did talk to sport psychologist %HESITATION that team USA has here so once we were kind of in the mindset they would ask me every day how I'm doing how I'm feeling and all that stuff %HESITATION and then like when all around came I was like absolutely not like I don't feel comfortable or safe going out there doing four events and then we got to fall and I was like again no bars bars and beam who are the two that I was like okay I feel like I can do it and then practicing bars I still got lost in the air before I came down on kind of Krasin so we're like it's not the best idea to do that floor was next not happening because that's where it was the most on all of my passes and then beam I do usually twisting IBM does not but I downgraded it in so I asked to see %HESITATION if we could try it downgraded this month that I probably haven't done since I was twelve or thirteen and we've heard about the twisty's we we've heard about that think we've all learned a lot about when did this first start coming on for you was it when you arrived here in Tokyo and now I actually didn't have a problem with that at all I competed %HESITATION well we did podium training was perfect we did it prelims was which was really good %HESITATION qualified into everything and then after prelims we went into practice the next morning and then that's when it started happening just completely random %HESITATION I went to do a floor pass and I just got lost in the air and I was like okay it was a fluke didn't do anymore the next day we had a little practice before team final and I was like okay well I have to do that again because that was really weird it seemed off and then I just could not get a sense of where I was in there so then as the team school team competitions going on and you stop competing and you sit there and read the rescue your teammates are how do you feel if you were watching them because they had to be a million thoughts going through your head as you're trying to say come on to your teammates as well I knew they could do the job and that's exactly what I told them as soon as I told them and they found out that I was pulling out for the rest of competition I was like you guys are trained for this you're gonna be just fine without me like go out there do your gymnastics and have fun I'll be here cheering you on if you need anything let me know in on it was hard to watch from the sidelines but I knew it was going to be the best option for myself and for the team if we wanted to metal the entire conversation about mental health is something that is very real is come to the forefront with Naomi Osaka Michael Phelps was here a lot while you were going through this and he shared what he had been through can you share with us the loneliness of being expected to win in hearing that you're the goat all the time but still have to go out and prove it time after time of type hard sent I feel like it's hard %HESITATION but it's harder being a female athlete because you know everybody prays for your down phone wants you to mess up and all that stuff and I don't think they take in consideration of our mental health because what we do isn't easy or else everybody could do it but also at the end of the day we're not just athletes are entertainment we're human too and we have emotions and feelings and things that we're working through behind the scenes that we don't tell you guys about and so I just think it's something that people should be more aware of June said to hold a copy last week just being the face of the games well it was a lot yeah it was a lot but I feel like that really didn't affect me it was just like what I wanted to accomplish and what I wanted to do and how everybody's like you %HESITATION do you kinda have you're the glue to the team and that kind of really stressed me out because I never thought of it that way but then whenever it's kind of being shut down your throat it's just like so that if I have a bad practice and the girls are often if I don't have a good attitude in the it's just like hard you were pretty clear about having a different purpose to continue on in hopes of seeing a change culture in the sport what needs to happen for that to happen for the next generation of Germanised I definitely think we're on the right road %HESITATION for a different path in the next generations you can already see it they have some different rules in place for basically everything now %HESITATION so we just have to keep them held responsible and just move on you were supposed to take home all these gold medals we take home silver and bronze given everything that happened how do you feel about that I'm not mad at all I'm very proud of the girls all of them %HESITATION I'm going home in one piece which I was a little bit nervous about %HESITATION so I'm not mad it's not how I wanted it to go but I think we've opened bigger doors and bigger conversations if you want to continue to be part of those conversations I think so I think it's helpful especially having somebody that's gone through it knows and Michael has reached out as well because he's been through it %HESITATION Naomi reach out as well she's been through it so they reach out in the last week or so yeah so it's been really nice to have their support who else is reached out that is really kind of struck a chord with you and Opara owned a lot of people have reached out like a lot of people it's been insane have that make you feel it made me feel good because in the beginning I kind of felt embarrassed like maybe this isn't what was supposed to happen but then it was like okay well I physically can't do it like I need to work on myself in ended up being okay a lot has happened and it's just a few hours after you competed but if you just take a deep breath and think of what's happened since you got off the plane in Tokyo and they get ready to get back to the U. S. what do you take away from this experience your mental health first it doesn't matter if you're on the biggest stage %HESITATION that's more important than any other metal you could win

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Id: t-4eJ2TZytY

Length: 6min 21sec (381 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 04 2021