TOKYO — American superstar gymnast Simone Biles, the greatest gymnast of all time, will not compete in the individual all-around gymnastics final at the Summer Olympics on Thursday.
The Olympic individual all-around is the sport's marquee individual event, and won by a huge margin at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.
He withdrew from the team final on Tuesday saying he needed to take care of his mental health.
"After further medical evaluation, Simone Biles withdrew from the final individual all-around competition," USA Gymnastics said in a statement.
"We wholeheartedly support Simone's decision and appreciate her bravery in prioritizing her well-being," USA Gymnastics said. "Her courage shows, yet again, why she is a role model to so many."
Biles can still compete in the individual event finals - USA Gymnastics said she will be assessed every day to determine whether she will participate. He qualified in all four events.
Jade Carey, who is in Tokyo as an event specialist, will replace Biles at the all-around individual event. Carey performed exceptionally strong in the qualifying event, finishing ninth overall.
Biles abruptly withdrew from team event citing mental health
After a rocky opening vault in Tuesday night's team final, Biles told her coaches she wanted to pull out of the competition. She later told reporters, "I didn't want to go to any other events, guessing myself."
"I've never felt like going to a competition before," she said. "I tried to go out here and have fun... but once I got out of here, I was like, 'No, not psychic, so I should just let the girls do it and be on my own. Must be focused."
His teammates faced the challenge. Two of them – Sunissa Lee and Jordan Chills – stepped up and competed in events they hadn't expected, earning a silver medal.
Team members acknowledged that suddenly losing their biggest star was stressful, but expressed full support for Biles. "If it weren't for him, we wouldn't be here now. We wouldn't have been silver Olympic medalists," said the Chilean.
Jade Carey will step into the all-around event
Kerry, 21, of Arizona, did not compete Tuesday because she was not selected as a member of the four-person team.
She came to Tokyo with expertise in vault and floor exercises, qualifying for the Olympics by scoring enough points in the Equipment World Cup series. It was controversial in the gymnastics world when it did not form a team of four.
In the qualifiers on Sunday, Carey scored brilliantly in the vault and floor to advance to the finals of the apparatus. And a strong score in the uneven bars — 14.133 — was enough to put him in ninth place overall.
In most teams, his aggregate score would easily qualify him for the individual all-around final. But each team is allowed to send only two persons. Biles finished first and Lee finished third overall.
With Biles exiting, Carey unexpectedly jumps into the limelight for the biggest event in women's individual gymnastics.