Simone Biles' teammates beautifully explained why their silver medal felt like gold

• Simone Biles dropped out of the team all-around competition on Tuesday.
• Her teammates - Jordan Chiles, Suni Lee, and Grace McCallum - all stepped up in a big way, and fought hard to take silver.
• After the competition, Chiles, Lee, and McCallum explained why their silver finish felt like gold.

Team USA has gone through quite a whirlwind 24 hours.

Heading into Tuesday, the American women were favorites to win all-around gold, led by GOAT gymnast Simone Biles.

But after just one vault, Biles withdrew from the Olympics team all-around final due to mental health concerns, calling on her teammates - Jordan Chiles, Suni Lee, and Grace McCallum - to step up in a big way for the United States.

READ MORE: The updated Tokyo 2020 medal table

Chiles, Lee, and McCallum answered the call with aplomb. Just moments after Biles stepped aside, Chiles competed in the uneven bars - a rotation she had not been scheduled to take part. Chiles said she initially thought her coach was joking when asked to put on her grips to prepare.

While the American women couldn't claim gold, their silver medal was still a huge win for the team given the overwhelming circumstances, and Biles' teammates were very clear of the pride they took in their second-place finish.

"We still got a medal for the United States of America," Chiles told NBC's Maria Taylor on Tuesday night. "In our minds, this silver medal is a gold medal. We didn't just get silver, we won silver. That's how we think about it. We won silver.

"This is a gold in our heart. It might not look like it, it might not be around our neck like that, but we did this to show, no matter who you are, no matter what's going on in your mind, no matter the circumstances, if you put people who know what they're doing out onto that floor, then they can succeed and fulfill what they need to do."

Biles teammates also opened up about the pressure that comes with competing at the Olympics and the extraordinary weight placed on the team's shoulders.

"Being on Team USA puts so much pressure on you because going in, you're just expected to win. Especially having Simone, I feel like people forget that she's human and anything can happen," Lee said.

"We don't owe anybody anything. We don't owe you a gold medal. You're not the one competing. We're the ones who have to go through all of this. So if anything, we owed it to ourselves, and I think that's what we did."

Team USA's Olympic journey didn't end with a gold medal this year, but Chiles, Lee, and McCallum all proved they were superstars in their own right by the way they stepped up for their teammate.