Showing her unwavering dedication and commitment, Simone Biles, who had decided to sit out during the USA’s team finals at the Tokyo Olympics citing a mental health issue, declared that she would compete in all four events during Tuesday night’s Paris Olympics 2024 team finals.
At the Tokyo Olympics, Biles’ withdrawal meant that Team USA had to settle for a silver medal after losing the final to Russia.
Biles tweaked her left leg while practising a double layout half out – an acrobatic skill named the “Biles I” after her – for the floor exercise during qualifiers on Sunday. The injury would force her to limp throughout the day at Paris’ Bercy Arena.
Despite the injury, she returned to the floor and posted the top scores (59.566) on the floor and vault on her way to topping the all-around, well above the next-closest competitor in second place.
She did four routines on the injured leg, a floor performance, two vaults and an uneven bars routine.
There was initial concern that Biles might have to sit out of team finals on Tuesday as Team USA had contemplated keeping Biles away from attempting the uneven bars in team finals to give her rest during the Games.
But the fear was later cancelled out with Biles listing herself in the lineups for all four events on Monday.
Team USA are the outright favourite to win the gold medal.
Biles will go last for the USA on three events — vault, floor exercise and balance beam — and will be up second on uneven bars.