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Reuters

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Reuters

Last week couldn?t seem to get much worse for 24-year-old Simone Biles. The American gymnast had an unfortunate week at the Tokyo Olympics 2020, as she had to withdraw from almost all the events she had qualified for.

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Biles just had one of the worst weeks an Olympic gymnast can possibly have. She suffered from mental health issues, had a case of the twisties, and recently revealed the passing of a family member. Despite going through all this, Simone Biles defended her Olympic Bronze medal.

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Simone Biles lost a family member

The American spoke in an interview of all the things that disturbed her mental health. It made her unsure of herself and led to her withdrawing from most of her events. ?It wasn?t easy pulling out of all those competitions,? Biles told reporters, per The Guardian.?

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?People just thought it was easy, but I physically and mentally was not in the right headspace and I didn?t want to jeopardize my health and my safety because, at the end of the day, it?s not worth it.

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?My mental and physical health is above all medals that I could ever win. So to be clear, to do beam, which I didn?t think I was going to be, just meant the world to be back out there. And I wasn?t expecting to walk away with the medal. I was just going out there doing this for me.?

She also told reporters that an aunt on her father?s side had passed away. At that point, she was just praying that the week got over. She told her coach Cecil Landi that she needed time and that she was not in the right mental state to compete.

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Defending her Balance Beam Bronze medal

They cleared Simone Biles to compete on the Balance Beam since it requires very minimal high-speed twisting. She scored a solid 14.000 which secured the third position for the American. China had a 1-2 finish with Guan Chenchen and Tang Xijing, respectively.

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Simone Biles is now tied with Shannon Miller for the most Olympic medals by an American gymnast.?

Also Read: WATCH: US Athlete?s Family Goes Bonkers After She Broke the World Record at Tokyo Olympics 2020

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Allan Binoy

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Allan Binoy is a Boxing writer at EssentiallySports. Currently pursuing a Bachelor's degree in English Literature from Loyola College, Allan fuses his love for literature and the sport of boxing to deliver quality copies about 'The Sweet Science.' Allan is a semi-professional soccer player for Diego Juniors FC. He loves watching Vasyl Lomachenko dance and weave around his opponents and strongly believes 'Loma' is one of the greatest boxers to ever step foot in the ring. If not Vasyl Lomachenko, Allan is busy watching Floyd Mayweather's defense highlight reels. Whenever he isn't watching boxing, Allan, as an aspiring soccer professional, finds himself immersed in all the live games during the weekends.

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