Following her bronze medal win on balance beam Tuesday, Simone Biles revealed that her aunt had unexpectedly died two days earlier.
“At the end of the day, people don’t understand what we are going through,” Biles said. “Two days ago, I woke up and my aunt unexpectedly passed, and it wasn’t any easier being here at the Olympic Games.”
Biles had already withdrawn from the women’s team and several individual competitions last week due to mental health concerns. She later revealed she’d been hit with the twisties, a gymnastics term to describe dangerous disorientation while twisting through the air.
On Tuesday, Biles told reporters that a sports psychologist had helped her to feel “more level-headed” before the beam finals.
“I was cleared to do beam, which I honestly didn’t think I’d be cleared to do last night,” she said.
Biles also said she would treasure the bronze ― her seventh Olympic medal ― all the more after everything she’d been through.
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