Simone Biles withdrew from the women’s gymnastics all-around final in Tokyo to focus on her mental health, but the United States was still able to take home the gold medal.
Suni Lee won the gold in the all-around on Thursday night with a score of 57.433. She beat Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade’s, who took home the silver medal with a score of 57.298.
Biles, who won the women’s individual all-around at the Rio Olympics in 2016, was heavily favored to repeat as champion. Lee became the fifth consecutive American woman to win the gold medal, joining Biles, Gabby Douglas, Nastia Liukin and Carly Patterson. Lee’s family and friends celebrated the feat back in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Crowd reacts as Suni Lee wins gold In the all around #TokyoOlympics pic.twitter.com/q6INDMT8y8
— Peter Cox (@peterncox) July 29, 2021
Lee, who is known for her incredibly difficult uneven bars routine, helped the US win the silver medal in the team all-around earlier this week. The 18-year-old is quickly becoming a household name.
Biles said she needed to deal with some things “internally” after withdrawing from the team all-around on Tuesday. She left open the possibility that she would compete in the individual all-around, but she ultimately decided to sit out. She opened up about the mental struggles she was having earlier in the week.
