- Simone Biles withdrew from Tuesday's
Olympics team all-around final due to mental health concerns. - She subsequently pulled herself out of contention for the individual all-around competition as well.
- Despite not participating in Thursday's event, Biles was in the stands to support her teammates.
The American superstar and most decorated gymnast in the sport's history withdrew from the Olympics team all-around final on Tuesday due to mental health concerns.
And after saying she would "hopefully" be ready to defend her 2016 gold medal in Thursday's individual all-around, Biles subsequently withdrew from that event, too.
Still, the 24-year-old was spotted up in the stands to watch
Lee - the youngest of "The Fighting Four" squad - was set to compete in the individual all-around after finishing third overall in the qualification round. But Carey was a last-minute addition, replacing Biles as the second American in the 24-person field.
Biles was seated beside some of the other women's gymnastics athletes who traveled to Tokyo on behalf of Team USA, including Jordan Chiles, Riley McCusker, and Mykayla Skinner. All were presumably cheering on Lee and Carey, but Biles was apparently supporting gymnasts from other countries, too.
And she was doing it loudly enough to get picked up on NBC's broadcast.
-Lauren Green (@Lauren_Green08) July 29, 2021
-Scott Bregman (@sbregman87) July 29, 2021
In addition to both the individual and team all-around competitions, Biles qualified for each of the four apparatus finals in Tokyo.
While it remains unclear if she'll compete, her next event - the vault final, where she was expected to try her highly-anticipated Yurchenko double pike - is scheduled for Sunday at 4:55 a.m. ET.