Simone Biles Explains Just How Bad Her Twisties Became At The Tokyo Olympics

Simone Biles commented on a video of a fellow gymnast falling headfirst on the mat to demonstrate how bad her case of the twisties became at the Tokyo Olympics.

“This happened more times than I would’ve wanted in practice at the games,” Biles tweeted Wednesday in response to resurfaced footage of France’s Émilie Le Pennec at the 2002 Junior European Championships.

The original poster of the clip had described Le Pennec’s fall as “an obvious case of the twisties,” where gymnasts become disoriented in the air during maneuvers. “And I guarantee something similar would have happened to Simone had she continued,” they wrote.

Biles pulled out midway through the team all-around final in Tokyo, citing concerns about her mental health. She later withdrew from five individual finals.

After decamping to a secret gym to practice away from scrutiny, she returned to win bronze on the balance beam.

Biles was open about her struggles throughout the games, at one point sharing a video of herself in training. “I don’t think you realize how dangerous this is on hard, competitive surface,” she wrote: