"More stressful than the actual competition" - Simone Biles reveals the biggest challenge that she faced with her coach during Olympics

Simone Biles recently revealed the most challenging part she and her coach faced during the Tokyo Olympics. Biles was a heavy favorite to collect multiple gold medals in Tokyo following her impressive run at the Rio Olympics.

However, the weight of the expectations hampered her confidence, which began to reflect on her routines. Even after stumbling multiple times in the qualification round, Biles earned the qualification in the all-around event in first place.

The legendary gymnast began to feel the strain, which impacted her performance. The gymnast and her coach, Cecile Landi, began to contemplate which routine she would perform, which was a tougher challenge than actually performing.

In a recent podcast with Olympics.com, Biles reflected on the moment, highlighting that they decided the gymnast would perform a double pike on vault until a mistake happened on the bars.

"We knew that if we did what I did in training, then it could happen. I think the most nerve-wracking part of that day was just, like, really deciding which vault we were doing, and I think that was more stressful than the actual competition, and then once we locked in, we were like, 'Ok, we are doing the double pike.' It didn't get stressful until the bars' mishap." (8:35 onwards)

Biles was supposed to perform a roundoff back handspring onto the table with 2&1/2 twists but ended up with only 1&1/2 twists in the vault.

"I didn't want to risk the team a medal " - Simone Biles withdrew from the Tokyo Olympics for her team

Simone Biles during the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris, France. (Photo via Getty Images)

Simone Biles once opened up about the real reason why she pulled back from competing at the Tokyo Games. She won a silver medal with her teammates in the team event.

However, after experiencing mental turmoil, Biles thought the chances of her team winning medals after her withdrawal could be better. She said,

"I just felt like it would be a little bit better to take a back seat to work on my mindfulness, and I knew that the girls would do an absolutely great job,” Biles explained. “I didn't want to risk the team a medal for kind of my screw-ups because they've worked way too hard for that. So, I just decided that those girls need to go in and do the rest the competition.” (via Olympics.com in February 2022)

Simone Biles returned on the final day of individual events and bagged a bronze medal in the balance beam event.