TOPLINE: American gymnast Simone Biles has withdrawn from Thursday’s individual all-around gymnastics final at the Tokyo Olympic Games to focus on her mental health, USA Gymnastics announced on Wednesday, a decision that comes just a day after the four-time Olympic gold medalist had to withdraw from the team event.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h3>



In a&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/USAGym/status/1420266286441922562" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">statement issued on Twitter</a>, USA Gymnastics said Biles’ decision to withdraw was taken following further medical evaluation and it backed the champion gymnast for prioritizing her well-being.



Biles—who won gold in the all-around event in Rio—was scheduled to defend her title in the finals on Thursday.&nbsp;



American gymnast Jade Carey, who ranked ninth in the all-around prelims, will take Biles’ spot in the finals, USA Gymnastics added.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-to-watch-for">WHAT TO WATCH FOR</h3>



Apart from the all-around individual event, Biles is in the finals of the four other gymnastics disciplines. The finals of the Vault and Uneven Bars are scheduled to take place on Sunday, the Floor final is scheduled for Monday and the Beam final is on Tuesday. It is unclear if Biles will be able to participate in any of these events.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h3>



“We wholeheartedly support Simone&#8217;s decision and applaud her bravery in prioritising her wellbeing. Her courage shows, yet again, why she is a role model for so many,” USA Gymnastics said.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">BIG NUMBER</h3>



19. That’s the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/simone-biles-medals-tokyo-2021-b1891221.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">total number</a>&nbsp;of gold medals Biles has won in world events—including the Olympics—making her the most successful gymnast in history. Her achievements also include three silver and three bronze medals at the world level, taking her total medal tally up to 25.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h3>



Biles, widely considered the greatest gymnast of all time,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2021/07/27/simone-biles-pulls-out-of-gymnastics-team-finals-in-huge-blow-to-gold-medal-hopes-for-team-usa/?sh=336c9d364628">pulled out</a>&nbsp;of the team gymnastics final on Tuesday after a vault attempt. Despite her absence, the U.S. team managed to put together a strong performance and managed to secure a silver medal, with the Russian Olympic Committee winning gold. After the event, Biles&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2021/07/27/simone-biles-says-she-pulled-out-of-olympic-team-gymnastics-over-her-mental-health/?sh=6a5b4b81725e">said</a>&nbsp;she pulled out of the event to focus on her mental health, telling reporters she feared she would injure herself because she wasn’t in the right headspace to perform the risky gymnastics moves in her routine. The star gymnast’s decision to open up about her mental health challenged has earned her praise with fellow athletes and other public figures expressing their support. Former first lady Michelle Obama&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/MichelleObama/status/1420202408215564288" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweeted</a>&nbsp;her support for Biles late on Tuesday night saying “we are proud of you and we are rooting for you.” Swimming legend Michael Phelps, who holds the all-time record for Olympic gold medals,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/2021/07/28/michael-phelps-simone-biles/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>&nbsp;Biles’s struggles “broke his heart.” The swimmer who has opened about his own struggles with depression said on Tuesday: “We carry a lot of weight on our shoulders, and it is challenging especially when the lights are on us.” Biles’ Rio 2016 teammate Aly Raisman&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/Aly_Raisman/status/1420020980198649860" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">congratulated</a>&nbsp;the U.S. Team for winning silver and simply&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/Aly_Raisman/status/1420062022461534215" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweeted</a>&nbsp;“Love you” at Biles.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h3>



<a href="https://www.bbc.com/sport/olympics/57973716" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Simone Biles out of individual all-around final</a>&nbsp;(BBC News)



<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/2021/07/28/michael-phelps-simone-biles/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Michael Phelps: Simone Biles situation ‘broke my heart’ but could raise mental health awareness</a>&nbsp;(Washington Post)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2021/07/27/simone-biles-says-she-pulled-out-of-olympic-team-gymnastics-over-her-mental-health/?sh=6a5b4b81725e">Simone Biles Says She Pulled Out Of Olympic Team Gymnastics Over Her Mental Health</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)

Gymnastics – Artistic – Olympics: Day 4

Simone Biles Withdraws From Individual All-Around Final As Support Pours In

The 19-year-old South African gymnast was all set for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in July, for which she had qualified. With the event’s postponement, her goal hasn’t changed, she says, only the timeline has.&nbsp;



At just 19 years old, Caitlin Rooskrantz is South Africa’s gold medal-winning international gymnast.



From Florida, a small suburb in Roodepoort in Johannesburg, and currently in lockdown in the country, if the Covid-19 pandemic hadn’t happened, Rooskrantz would have now been intensely training for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in July, for which she had qualified.



&nbsp;“I qualified for the 2020 Games being the first woman in South Africa’s gymnastics history to have achieved an outright qualification at the world championships,” she told an audience of female powerhouses at the 2020 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Leading Women Summit in Durban on March 6.



Even as a child, when she first took to gymnastics, she had been set on making it to the Olympics one day.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



The news of the Games’ postponement has been quite upsetting, but says Rooskrantz: “It is in the best interest of all the athletes because our health comes first, always!” Her favorite quote, in particular, comforts her at this time: “The goal hasn’t changed, just the timeline has, keep going!”



Her training has continued through the lockdown and it has kept her afternoons busy.



“We have set programs to keep up our strength, fitness and flexibility. To try and keep up my mental game, I watch videos daily of any past successful competitions. I analyse my training videos and try to mentally put myself in the video,” she says.



2019 had been “a spectacular year” for her.



“I managed to pass matric well with two distinctions and university entrance while training for my childhood dream. Not only did I bag South Africa’s first-ever gold medal on uneven bars on an international stage, but at just 18 years old, I made history,” she said at the summit, to an applauding audience.&nbsp;



In an interview with FORBES AFRICA, Rooskrantz reflects on the days when it all started, as a young child, when she was a bundle of energy and her parents knew early on that they had to redirect that energy to sport.



A teenager now, but if Rooskrantz has already seen much success, she has also experienced tragedy and hardship.



When she was just eight, her father, from whom she inherited her deep love for sport, passed away. He took his own life.



She had been training at a gymnastics center a few kilometers from home, but that had to stop because of the tragedy and transportation issues. But her former trainer took it upon herself to regularly drive her there.



“Everything started escalating and things took a turn. I dropped all my school sports because I didn’t have any time for them; I had to pick one, especially with the high demand of gym,” she says.



Rooskrantz was placed on a high-performance program and soon started traveling; training more than four hours a day six days a week at the age of 11. This was the intermediate level of her tumbling (a gymnastic feat including the execution of acrobatic feats) profession and the best was yet to come.



Her first overseas trip was to Australia for a training camp in 2012. A few months later, Rooskrantz competed in Serbia for her first international competition. It might have not been the best competition for her, but it was great exposure.



In 2014, South Africa hosted the African gymnastics championships with Rooskrantz the youngest member of the junior team.



“I did well, I don’t remember falling and I made it to the bar finals and that was the time I started to realize my potential on the asymmetric bar. I left that with a big boost to my confidence.”&nbsp;



The young student was progressing quickly, reaching new heights.



On her last year as a junior in the 2016 Junior Commonwealth Games in Namibia, she made three apparatus finals; asymmetric bar, vault and the balancing beam.



An injury kept her away from the Commonwealth Games in Australia in 2018, when she went in for surgery and was off the apparatus for months.



“I was in bed after my operation but back at gym a week after, still on crutches, working on my upper body. In a sport like gymnastics, when you are that injured, it is critical to do something because you lose strength, flexibility and fitness. I was also working on my mental state,” she says of those hard days. Her coach told her the surgery was either going to make or break her career. She was determined to return stronger. She did, and how.

2020 Forbes Woman Africa Leading Women Summit

Staying Flexible: With The Postponement Of The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, This Gymnast’s Goal Hasn’t Changed

After driving for two-and-a-half hours from the gridlocked Johannesburg to Klerksdorp, a small rural town in the north west of South Africa, we accepted we were lost. In the end, an elderly lady had to escort us to a place few know.
The Klerksdorp School of Gymnastics is where you can find Grace Legote, Africa’s leading rhythmic gymnast who is celebrated in Russia but barely known in her own country. Luckily, we found the 23-year-old Legote warming up with four girls, between the ages of six and 12.
“I have been practicing gymnastics here for the past 12 years; it’s sad people do not know about this place. I sometimes meet local people who recognize my face from media but they don’t know my name,” says Legote.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-30251 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Grace-Legote-039-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Grace-Legote-039-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Grace-Legote-039-300x451.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Grace-Legote-039-600x903.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Grace-Legote-039-681x1024.jpg 681w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Grace-Legote-039.jpg 680w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />
A few days later (at the end of May), Legote and her coach, Tatiana Lavrentchouk-Vizer, were to fly to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, for the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup. This is one of the few competitions standing between Legote and her qualification for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Africa’s hopes lie on her slender shoulders.
“When you really want to qualify, you have to be focused and constantly participate in international competitions. You must compete and compete because you improve in each competition. It’s fine if you don’t win it all but you become competitive,” says Lavrentchouk-Vizer.
For Legote, a second year sports management student at Centurion Academy Sports, the lack of money to compete regularly is a major challenge.
“The goal for Grace is to gain more international exposure, which will improve her international experience and ranking. However, traveling overseas comes at a great financial cost, which is a struggle,” says Anna Hartley, a media and publicity officer for the South African Gymnastics Federation.
Legote first represented her country at the Junior Olympics in Australia in 2005. Despite being the youngest competitor in her category, with only two years in the sport, Legote won two gold medals and a bronze. Her three teammates in Australia are no longer involved in the sport because they lacked support.
In November last year, Legote placed 13th, her personal best, in the Rhythmic Grand Prix in Innsbruck, Austria. She scored above 15 in all four of the apparatus – ball, club, ribbon and hoop. The competition featured the world’s best gymnasts and those that finished in the top 12 were paid.
“Previously, I scored around 15 but I really surprised myself in Austria. I improved. I know I can sustain that feat and reach the 19s. That will be awesome for my [Olympics] preparations,” she says.
Lavrentchouk-Vizer agrees. She says Legote is a rare talent because she started at the age of 11, which is late for gymnastics. The ideal age is six.
“She was born for this sport. She’s supple, she’s flexible, and she doesn’t have issues with her body…The sport is very individual, it depends on an individual’s body. Grace is lucky because her body can go on for another three to five years. Whether she makes it or not, that also depends on the support she gets from her trainers and sponsors. As we speak, she’s in good condition for any competition in the world,” says Lavrentchouk-Vizer.
Legote trains for four hours a day, six days a week. She takes a break on Sundays.
Lavrentchouk-Vizer, her husband, Oleg Vizer, and their three-year-old child, came to South Africa from Russia in 1993. They stayed in a few cities, including Johannesburg, while working for rich families. In 1996, they settled in Klerksdorp and opened the school. Oleg teaches artistic gymnastics to a mixed-sex class. Artistic gymnastics is essential for all gymnasts.
“If you throw your body like that, you don’t care about yourself… That’s not good enough… Doggy tail, no, that’s not cute, I want to see a cute doggy tail. Let’s do it again,” shouts Lavrentchouk-Vizer to her students over the classical music.
Legote says her coach is a perfectionist and a loving mother to them. All the girls gave her warm hugs at the end of their session.
Many of her students have represented their country, but some quit after a few weeks. Sibongile Mjekula finished eighth in the Commonwealth Games in 2010, before retiring in 2012 at the age of 24. Palesa Mohlamme is another 15-year-old South African junior with a bright future.  In 2013, she kept South Africans glued to their screens when she was a semi-finalist on the TV show SA’s Got Talent.
Lavrentchouk-Vizer spotted Legote 12 years ago.
“I used to come here to watch other kids. One day, I was here as usual and this lady picked me from the crowd and asked me to stretch with her. I guess she wanted to see what I could do. I was asked to come the next day and that’s how it all began,” says Legote.
Lavrentchouk-Vizer’s connection to Russian gymnastics has opened up opportunities for Legote. In February, the Russian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation hosted Legote for its 80th anniversary celebrations. She was the only African among athletes from Greece, Korea, Italy, the United States, Spain, Japan, Georgia, Israel and Italy.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-30252 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Grace-Legote-108-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Grace-Legote-108-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Grace-Legote-108-600x399.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Grace-Legote-108-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Grace-Legote-108.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
“The country spent $3 million for the event. That’s how big the sport is in Russia. They don’t get why this beauty, this talent is not supported in South Africa,” says Lavrentchouk-Vizer.
Many in Klerksdorp, the town Legote moved to when she was 11, are oblivious that they have a star in their midst. This is despite her being the ‘sportswoman of the year’ in the North West province. She is the first to win this title in three consecutive years.
Regrettably, this talent is likely to go to waste if the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) does not step up to the plate. If Legote qualifies for the Olympic Games, she’ll have to wait and see if SASCOC decides to let her compete.
“It is very frustrating. I don’t think SASCOC puts in enough money to develop the sport, but I don’t know how they work with the federation,” says Legote.
Tseko Mogotsi, the Chief Operations Officer at the South African Gymnastics Federation, says the sponsorships they have are not enough to send Legote to the Olympics. But Mogotsi says SASCOC has an obligation to sponsor her if she qualifies in the top 20. Legote is in the third tier of SASCOC’s Operation Excellence (Opex) program for funding and support, he says.
Whether this African queen of rhythmic gymnastics will live her dream of competing at the Olympic Games, sadly depends on people with deep pockets rather than her talent.

Tag: Gymnastics

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