Simone Biles will make a dramatic return to the Tokyo Olympics when she competes in the women’s beam final on Tuesday, USA Gymnastics has confirmed.
Biles has not competed since she withdrew early in the women’s team final last week, citing a desire to protect her mental health.
Afflicted by a phenomenon known as the ‘twisties’ – essentially a temporary struggle with spatial awareness – Biles pulled out of the first three of the four individual finals for which she had qualified.
We are so excited to confirm that you will see two U.S. athletes in the balance beam final tomorrow - Suni Lee AND Simone Biles!! Can’t wait to watch you both!
— USA Gymnastics (@USAGym) August 2, 2021
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However, she has been named as the third of eight starters in the beam final, for which she qualified in seventh place last Sunday.
USA Gymnastics tweeted: “We are so excited to confirm that you will see two US athletes in the balance beam final tomorrow – Suni Lee and Simone Biles!!”
Biles arrived at the Games with the expectation of equalling or even surpassing her historic quadruple gold medal haul from Rio in 2016.
But despite successfully qualifying for all four individual finals, she seemed far from her all-conquering best, and left the floor after one rotation of the subsequent team final after failing to land a vault.
Biles later confirmed she had pulled out due to ‘twisting’, explaining in a social media quote: “It has never transferred to bars and beam for me. This time it’s literally in every event which sucks.
“(You) literally cannot tell up from down. It’s the craziest feeling ever, not having an inch of control over your body.”
By her own incredible standards, beam is not Biles’ strongest piece of apparatus, and the chances of her winning a medal appear relatively slim even notwithstanding her current plight.
She won a bronze medal in Rio, behind Sanne Wevers of the Netherlands, who failed to qualify this time, and her United States team-mate Laurie Hernandez.
