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Two days later, word came that Biles was giving up her spots in the individual uneven bars and vault finals.

Biles, the defending Olympic and five-time world champion in the event, announced on Wednesday that she’d withdrawn from the next day’s final.Ĭarey, who finished ninth in qualifying but, like Skinner, had been two-per-countried, was elevated into Biles’ role. The first domino to fall was the all-around. “So she was on it like that,” Skinner said.Ī generational talent, Biles’ status had repercussions on every individual event - she was the first woman since 1992 to qualify in all five, after all. With her world closing in on her that night, the four-time champ from Rio had the foresight to pass along an urgent message to her coach: Stop MyKayla’s flight! It’s a condition known as “the twisties.” Similar to the yips in baseball, the twisties can be life-threatening for a gymnast, especially one who does skills like a triple-twisting, double somersault.īiles scratched the rest of the team competition as the American women went on to win a silver medal. On that second day, however, the gymnastics world around her changed.ĭuring the first rotation of Tuesday’s team competition - which Skinner didn’t take part in - American superstar Simone Biles blocked off the vault and couldn’t register where she was in the air. “After prelims it was very devastating, it took me two days to be like I’m good, I got this, I did my best.”

“I kind of had my mindset like, I’m done and ready to move on,” said Skinner, who is from Gilbert, Arizona. Hence, with organizers not wanting athletes to stick around too long due to COVID-19, Skinner got her flight and was ready to go home. Thanks to a rule at international gymnastics championships that limits countries to two entries per final, Skinner was “two-per-countried” out of the Olympics after just one day. Nonetheless, she arrived in Tokyo and nailed it again in the qualification round, finishing with the 11th best all-around score and fourth best vault score.

Only she didn’t make the four-person team, but rather she was selected for a new individual spot. Olympic Team Trials.Īfter all that, Skinner at age 24 finally made an Olympic team. Then she had the meet of her life at the U.S. The same could be said for much of her last five years.įrom Olympic alternate to NCAA champ and then back to elite gymnastics at 22. I wasn’t expecting any of this to happen.” “I was actually gonna get on a plane to go home. Jade Carey, also competing in the women’s vault final, finished eighth. On the men’s side, Yul Moldauer took sixth on floor exercise, while Alec Yoder ended in the same position on pommel horse. Suni Lee, coming off the all-around gold medal on Thursday, won a bronze medal on uneven bars. Her medal highlighted the first of three days of individual event finals at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre. Yeo Seojeong of South Korea won the bronze medal with 14.733. Her two-vault average score of 14.916 placed her second behind Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade, who scored 15.083. In a career with more twists and turns than her Amanar vault, what’s one more?Īfter getting the call on Saturday that she’d be elevated into today’s women’s vault final, Skinner nailed two difficult vaults on Sunday to walk off her gymnastics career with her long sought after Olympic medal. On Sunday, she won an Olympic silver medal instead. MyKayla Skinner was flying home to Arizona on Wednesday. Mykayla Skinner poses with the silver medal on the podium for the women's vault at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 on Aug.