Simone Biles’s turbulent journey throughout the Tokyo Olympics ended with a history-making performance. Byers won the bronze medal in Tuesday’s balance beam final and tied the historical record of American gymnastics with seven medals in her brilliant Olympic career.
This marked Byers’ first participation in a Tokyo competition in a week, where she withdrew from the team finals with mental health issues. Due to “twists and turns,” Byers skipped all three individual events where she won gold medals at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
awesome @Simone_Biles #Olympic Games pic.twitter.com/zbepw08eUn
— Elite Media Group (@TheEliteMedia_) August 3, 2021
“It’s not easy to quit all these games,” Byers said, passing ESPN“People just think it’s easy, but my body and mind are not in the right mind space. I don’t want to endanger my health and safety, because in the final analysis, it’s not worth it.
“My physical and mental health is higher than all the medals I can win. So to make it clear, being a beam, I don’t think I will become, it just means the world will come back there. I didn’t expect to leave with a medal. I just went out Do this for me.”
Byers had to change her routine in the qualifiers, but she still finished third out of eight contestants with a score of 14.000. Chinese player Guan Chenchen took home the gold medal on the balance beam with a score of 14.633. The 14.233 score allowed Chinese player Tang Xijing to win the silver medal.
American gymnast Sunisa Lee ranked fifth.plum Won the gold medal Byers missed the women’s all-around game last week.
Make history. always. @Simone_Biles Tie the record for the most Olympic medals won by American gymnasts. #Tokyo Olympics pic.twitter.com/4lXZ6waUeQ
— Team USA (@TeamUSA) August 3, 2021
Byers also won a bronze medal on the 2016 balance beam. With the United States Gymnastics team winning the silver medal in this year’s team finals, Byers won seven medals in his career, matching the record set by Shannon Miller in 1996.
Byers has won 15 individual world championships.
Photo: AFP/Loic VENANCE
