In Olympic news, U.S. gymnastics superstar Simone Biles will not defend her title in the all-around final Thursday. On Tuesday, Biles revealed that she withdrew from her team finals for mental health reasons.
Simone Biles: “Yeah, I say put mental health first, because if you don’t, then you’re not going to enjoy your sport, and you’re not going to succeed as much as you want to. So it’s OK sometimes to even sit out the big competitions to focus on yourself, because it shows how strong of a competitor and person that you really are, rather than just battle through it.”
“At the end of the day we’re human, too,” said Biles, who is considered the greatest gymnast of all time. The U.S. team went on to win the silver medal, with Russia taking home the gold.
In related news, members of Germany’s women’s gymnastics team performed in full-body unitards during the competition in an effort to combat the sexualization of female athletes and instead prioritize their comfort.