"I got more and more nervous"- When Simone Biles opened up about facing self-doubt leading up to the Tokyo Olympics

Simone Biles once opened up about feeling nervous and anxious before making her second consecutive Olympic appearance in Tokyo. The American gymnast shared that she did not feel very confident before she stepped on the mat to compete in the Olympic Games, which were delayed due to COVID-19.

Biles' appearance at the Tokyo Olympics raised anticipation among fans who were excited to witness the American gymnast create history on the mat and emerge as one of the greatest gymnasts to compete in the quadrennial games. However, her Tokyo Olympics appearance faced a heartbreaking end as she withdrew from the competitions right before the commencement of the finals of the women's team event, citing mental health concerns.

The American gymnast shared that she was apprehensive about competing in Tokyo, as she was not confident enough with the training that she had done leading up to the games. Moreover, Simone Biles revealed in an interview with the BBC that she was seeing a therapist before the quadrennial games and had become anxious owing to the coronavirus restrictions as well as other factors.

"Leading up to it, I got more and more nervous," she says. "I didn't feel as confident as I should have been with as much training as we had," she said.

Moreover, Biles shared her experience of competing with 'twisties', a condition in which a gymnast loses spatial awareness during aerial maneuvers.

"It's a miracle I landed on my feet," she added.

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Simone Biles on her teammates' reaction after her withdrawal

Simone Biles at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Women's Gymnastics Balance Beam Final - Source: Getty

Simone Biles opened up about her teammates' reaction when they heard about her decision to withdraw from the Tokyo Olympics in a post-match press conference. She shared that her teammates motivated her to compete in the finals; however, she decided not to risk an Olympic medal for the team and take the tough decision of opting out.

“I was like: I think the girls need to do the rest of the competition without me. They were like ‘I promise you’ll be fine, we watched you warm-up’. But I said ‘no, I know I am going to be fine but I can’t risk a medal for the team and I need to call it," she said, via CNN.

Moreover, Biles expressed that she usually tries her best to push her limits in such situations; however, she did not want to risk the medal.

“You usually don’t hear me say things like that because I usually persevere and push through things, but not to cost the team a medal. So they were like: OK, if Simone says this, we need to take it pretty serious. I had the correct people around me to do that," she added.

Ultimately, the USA won the silver medal in the team event, and Simone Biles concluded her campaign in Tokyo with two medals - one bronze and one silver.