Simone Biles has opted to skip another event, the floor exercise, because of her continuing mental block. The American gymnast now has only one more event in which she might compete, the balance beam, and USA Gymnastics has not said whether she will take part in that competition on Tuesday. Biles was the defending Olympic champion on the floor exercise. Meanwhile, American MyKayla Skinner won the silver in the vault after she replaced Biles in the competition. Brazilian Rebeca Andrade won the gold and South Korea's Yeo Seojeong the bronze. Skinner's medal completes a remarkable comeback story, per the AP.
The 24-year-old was an alternate on the 2016 Olympic team before heading to college at Utah. She returned to competition in 2019 but was sidetracked during the pandemic when she was diagnosed with COVID-19 and then pneumonia last winter. She made the Olympic team as a “plus-one” and only missed the vault finals because International Gymnastics Federation rules that permit only two athletes from one country in each final and Skinner finished behind Biles and Jade Carey in qualifying. In fact, she nearly flew home from Tokyo, but when Biles dropped from a team event on Tuesday, she told USA Gymnastics to give Skinner a heads-up she might be needed. “Simone was like, 'Text MyKayla and tell her not to go home in case she has to step in,'” Skinner said, per Yahoo Sports. “She was on it like that."
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