Simone Biles has withdrawn from the Women’s Gymnastics Team Final taking place on Tuesday, July 27.

USA Gymnastics released the following statement. “Simone Biles has withdrawn from the team final competition due to a medical issue. She will be assessed daily to determine medical clearance for future competitions.” Biles was last seen leaving the floor with the team trainer before the announcement was made.

As the United States chased their third straight gold medal, Biles left the floor before returning minutes later in warm-ups and unprepared to continue competing. However, Biles was seen hugging and passionately supporting her teammates.

Biles competed in the opening rotation in the vault, where the performance did not go as planned and points were deducted after she struggled to land a Yurchenko 1.5 twist. The dismount catapulted Biles forward on her landing which saw the U.S. fall behind Russia in points.

Biles was expected to compete in the uneven bars during the second rotation but was replaced by Jordan Chiles. 

The Russian Olympic Committee outscored the United States in qualifying, making the ROC the first team to beat the U.S. in a major international competition in 11 years. The U.S. team seemed to lack the ability to compete with the ROC without the incredible performances from Biles.

Despite the historic loss for the U.S., Biles was proud of her teammates. “I think tonight they get a gold medal from me in fighting cause they never gave up and they just showed the world what they’re capable of,” she said.

Updates to Biles’ situation and the reason behind pulling out of the competition are contrary to the USA Gymnastics’ original statement. Biles was struggling to cope with the stress of competing at the Tokyo Olympic Games.

“After the performance that I did, I didn’t want to go into any of the other events second guessing myself, so I thought it was better if I took a step back and let these girls go out there and do the job and they did just that,” Biles said.

Biles continued her discussion about the difficulties of competing at the highest level. “Therapy has helped a lot as well as medicine. That’s all been going really well. Whenever you get in high-stress situations, you kind of freak out and don’t know really know how to handle all of those emotions especially at the Olympic Games.”

The chief of the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee has not ruled out the looming threat of a last-minute cancelation of the Olympics. The possibility has become a focal point as more and more athletes have tested positive for COVID-19 and a number of sponsors plan to ditch the opening ceremony on Friday.

Toshiro Muto said he planned to keep an eye on infection numbers and plan accordingly when asked about the possibility of a cancelation during a press conference.

“We can’t predict what will happen with the number of coronavirus cases. So we will continue discussions if there is a spike in cases,” Muto said.

“We have agreed that based on the coronavirus situation, we will convene five-party talks again. At this point, the coronavirus cases may rise or fall, so we will think about what we should do when the situation arises.”

Tokyo has been subject to rising COVID-19 cases. The Olympics are scheduled to be played out in empty arenas, implementing a precautionary approach after the event’s cancelation a year ago. The decision for events to be carried out without spectators was to minimize health risks.

Since July, there have been 67 positive COVID-19 cases among the athletes competing in the games. This has created further complications since athletes have been arriving at the games during this time period.

Japan has had an underwhelming push for vaccines compared to other developed nations, which has played a major role in the uptick of cases and the rising death toll.

International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach and Olympic organizers have never considered the idea of cancelation and assured a “safe and secure” competition. However, experts have explained the potential gaps and liabilities of the “bubble” for the Olympics.

Kenji Shibuya, former director of the Institute for Population Health at King’s College London, has been critical of the Olympic “bubble” and explained that it already seems to be broken.

“My biggest concern is, of course, there will be a cluster of infections in the athlete’s village or some of the accommodation and interaction with local people,” Shibuya added.

Seiko Hashimoto, organizing committee president, has recognized that measures taken to keep the Japanese public safe have not been effective and the widespread support for the Olympics has dropped drastically.

“I really want to apologize from my heart for the accumulation of frustrations and concerns that the public has been feeling towards the Olympics,” said Hashimoto.

Hashimoto also explained the public is uneasy “because they feel that the current situation appears to show that the playbooks that were meant to guarantee security is not providing a sense of safety.”

In a recent poll, 68% of respondents expressed doubt in the Olympic committee’s ability to control the spread of the virus and 55% of respondents expressed opposition to the Olympics going forward.