Tokyo: Gymnast Simone Biles has won a bronze medal in balance beam, her first of the Tokyo Olympics. The American gymnastics star finished behind gold medalist Guan Chenchen and silver medalist Tang Xijing both of China. A week after taking herself out of several competitions to focus on her mental health, Simone Biles drilled a slightly altered routine Tuesday. Biles, using a routine that ended with a double-pike dismount — no twisting required — posted a score of 14.000. That was good enough for the third place during the eight-woman final.
Biles had earlier dropped out of a number of events after complaining of mental health issues. Her withdrawal from her favourite event – floor exercises had come as a surprise to many.
Biles later said she was dealing with issues surrounding air awareness, referred to as ‘the twisties’ in her sport. Biles qualified for all five individual event finals but took herself out of four of them. They are the all-around, vault, floor exercise and uneven bars.
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