Simone Biles watches Sunisa Lee and Jade Carey compete in all-around final

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Gymnastics superstar Simone Biles went from defending Olympic champion to applauding spectator as her all-around title was seized by her US teammate Sunisa Lee – who put on a spectacular display of skills to claim the win in a battle that was blown wide open by the 24-year-old’s shock decision to pull out of the race. 

Biles, from Texas, put on a brave face as she cheered and clapped for fellow Team USA gymnast Lee, 18, who forged ahead to victory in the hotly-contested final – which Biles had been widely expected to win – putting up strong routines on all four events in her quest for gold medal success. 

The 18-year-old gymnast became one of the favorites to claim all-around gold after Biles announced that she was pulling out of the competition, citing her mental health struggles as the reason for her withdrawal. 

Lee qualified for the all-around final in third place, behind Biles and Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade, however she quickly proved herself to be a top contender from the opening minutes of the competition, which she started a very strong performance on vault, before moving on to the bars, beam, and floor exercise.   

Biles, from Texas, smiled and waved at the cameras as she watched her fellow Team USA gymnasts go up against strong competition in the hotly-contested final.   

Both Lee, 18, and Carey, were considered strong contenders for a medal in the competition – with Lee qualifying for the final in third place, behind Biles and Brazilian athlete Rebeca Andrade. 

While Carey only earned her spot in the lineup after Biles chose to withdraw, she boasts some of the most difficult skills in the world, which could give her the potential to rack up enormous scores.  

The Team USA athletes are facing very tough competition from the likes of Brazilian star Andrade, as well as Russian gymnasts Angelina Melnikova and Vladislava Urazova, and the fight for medal place finishes remains incredibly close – a marked change from recent years, during which Biles has proven unbeatable.  

Although Biles put on a brave face from the stands, it was clear that the experience of watching her countrymen compete for the title that she was widely expected to win was somewhat emotional. The fallen star wiped a tear from her eye as she watched her replacement, Carey, land her vault, which is one of Biles’ favorite disciplines. 

Biles, who pulled out of the event to protect her mental health, was comforted by her best friend and teammate Jordan Chiles and her coach Cecile Landi.

Wearing a grey sweatshirt and blue sweatpants the Olympic Champion appeared unsettled and anxious as she watched her team-mates from the front row of the stands.

The athlete was constantly checking her phone and seeking reassurance from Chiles, 20, as the event progressed –  and, in an impressive display of sportsmanship, she was heard cheering loudly for her teammates and for Russia’s gymnasts, who beat the US to claim gold in the team final following Biles’ withdrawal. 

Both Lee, and Carey, pulled off impressive performances on their first event, the vault, earning strong starting scores of 14.6 and 15.2, respectively before moving onto uneven bars, where Carey, from Arizona, struggled slightly, finishing with a 13.5, while Lee surged ahead with a sky-high score of 15.3. 

Biles’ replacement faced further difficulty on the balance beam, falling off the apparatus during her routine – a mistake that left her with a disappointing score of just 11.533, which effectively puts her out of contention for a medal, although she has yet to compete on the floor exercise, which is known to be her strongest event. 

Lee on the other hand put up a very impressive routine on the four-inch-wide beam, finishing the event with a strong score of 13.833, which pushed her up into the gold medal spot that Biles had been expected to dominate as the athletes moved into their final rotation.   

Biles announced on Wednesday that she would not be defending her Olympic all-around title in today’s final, following her shock decision to pull out of the team final after just one event to ‘focus on her mental health’.  

The gymnast broke her silence in the wake of the announcement hours later, when she thanked her fans for their ‘support and love’, noting that her fans have helped her to realize ‘she is more than gymnastics’. 

‘The outpouring love & support I’ve received has made me realize I’m more than my accomplishments and gymnastics which I never truly believed before,’ Biles tweeted on Wednesday night.  

Biles stunned spectators and athletes alike in Tuesday’s team final when she flubbed her vault – her first skill – by bailing out of a skill mid-air, completing just one-and-a-half twists instead of the intended two-and-a-half, an error that saw her earn an uncharacteristically low score of just 13.766. 

Moments later, it was announced that she was pulling out of the lineup altogether, leaving her three teammates, Lee, Jordan Chiles, 20, and Grace McCallum, 18, to try and overtake their Russian rivals without her. While the trio of first-time Olympians put on a bold fight – at one point narrowing the gap between themselves and the Russian Olympic Committee to just a few tenths of a point – they ultimately ended up in silver medal position.  

Biles later hinted that the horrific sexual abuse she endured at the hands of pedophile doctor Larry Nassar is behind the mental health issues that prompted her shock withdrawal.

The 24-year-old drew a line between the trauma of Nassar’s abuse and her decision to pull out of both the team and individual all-around medal events for the first time when she retweeted a statement of support from a fellow gymnast – who hit out at critics of the sporting superstar, while reminding the world that Biles was ‘molested by her team doctor throughout her entire childhood’.

‘We are talking about the same girl who was molested by her team doctor throughout her entire childhood and teenage years,’ the statement, which was written by former gymnast-turned-fitness trainer Andrea Orris, read.

It continued: ‘That girl has endured more trauma by the age of 24 than most people will ever go through in a lifetime.’ 

Although Biles, who was seen for the first time since the announcement when she stepped out to cheer on Team USA’s male gymnasts in Tokyo on Wednesday, did not issue her own statement about Nassar or her decision to pull out of the all-around, a US official told DailyMail.com that Orris’ message ‘sums up everything Simone is feeling and wants to say’. 

The source continued: ‘The fact that Simone has retweeted it, shows that she agrees with every word that’s been said on her behalf.’

Biles, who has been incredibly outspoken in her criticism of USAG’s handling of the Nassar scandal, and her struggle to deal with the resulting trauma of his abuse, did not share her own statement – instead allowing the news to be shared by the organization that she has so frequently blasted for ‘failing’ to protect its gymnasts from the pedophile doctor.

‘After further medical evaluation, Simone Biles has withdrawn from the final individual all-around competition at the Tokyo Olympic Games, in order to focus on her mental health,’ the statement read.

‘Simone will continue to be evaluated daily to determine whether or not to participate in next week’s individual event finals. We wholeheartedly support Simone’s decision and applaud her bravery in prioritizing her well-being. Her courage shows, yet again, why she is a role model for so many.’

Biles is one of more than 150 gymnasts who were abused by Nassar, the former national team doctor, during his 30-year career, and in 2019, she revealed that the trauma of the assaults had left her struggling with suicidal thoughts.

At the time, she admitted that she was ‘sleeping all the time’ because it was ‘the closest thing to death’, while revealing that she was undergoing therapy in order to deal with the abuse.

Biles has yet to announce whether she plans to take part in the other four individual event finals that she qualified for: vault, uneven bars, floor exercise and balance beam. 

If she chooses to take part, the gymnast will return to the Ariake arena as a competitor rather than a spectator for the first time since the team final on Sunday, when the vault and uneven bars finals are scheduled to take place. 

She also qualified for spots in Monday’s floor exercise final and Tuesday’s balance beam final. 

If she chooses to withdraw from all competitions, her spots in those finals will be handed to other athletes – including her US teammate Skinner, who would take over her place in the vault final.   

Skinner narrowly missed out on a place in the vault final because of the two-athlete-per-country rule – despite finishing in fourth place in the qualifying round, behind Biles, Carey, and Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade. Should Biles choose to pull out of the event, Skinner would be next in line to take her spot – just as Carey has now done for the all-around final.

Before Biles’ Olympic future was thrown into doubt, Skinner had expressed her ‘heartbreak’ over her failure to qualify for any individual finals, which meant that her competition ended after the first day of events.

In the other event finals, Biles’ spot would be handed to athletes from other countries; on the uneven bars, she would likely be replaced by French athlete Mélanie de Jesus dos Santos, while Japan’s Urara Ashikawa would be given a chance on the balance beam. British gymnast Jennifer Gadirova, who helped to propel her team to a surprise bronze medal finish in Tuesday’s competition, is next in line to compete in the floor exercise.