The lights are bright and the pressure is intense on the world’s biggest stage.
Simon Biles showed Tuesday she’s not just the GOAT, but more importantly -- human.
"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,” said the Team USA gymnast. “So it's OK sometimes to sit out the big competitions to focus on yourself. It shows how strong a person and competitor you really are, rather than just battle through it."
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Her strength was on full display, as was the strength of her team who won silver without her.
"It was definitely something that was unexpected,” said Jordan Chiles of Team USA. “We were kind of emotional when we found out that she wasn't going to continue. We all just had to put our minds into a great position.”
Biles said it would be better for her to take a backseat and was confident the team would “do an absolutely great job and I didn't want to risk the team a medal through my screw-ups. Because they've worked way too hard for that.”
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USA Gymnastics announced late Tuesday night that Biles would not compete in the women’s individual all-around final on Thursday.
