Olympian Dominique Moceanu praises Simone Biles with heartbreaking story of her own injury at 14
Following Simone Biles' surprising withdrawal from both Tuesday's women's gymnastics team final and Thursday's individual all-around, former 'Magnificent 7' gymnast and Olympian Dominique Moceanu shared her support for Biles' decision — a choice Moceanu said she would have never been free enough to make.
"[Simone Biles'] decision demonstrates that we have a say in our own health," Moceanu tweeted alongside video of an almost-devastating tumble she took during the 1996 Atlanta Games. Despite a "tibial stress fracture" and "no cervical spine exam," Moceanu still competed in the floor final "minutes later" because she didn't feel she had the agency not to.
Essentially underscoring Moceanu's comments, other gymnasts have pointed out the difficulty of the vault that nearly bested Biles on Tuesday, adding that she could have ended up seriously injured were she not so skilled.
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Biles has since explained she was "second guessing myself" and "didn't want to go out there and do something dumb and get hurt." Suffering from "the twisties" after her vault, Biles thought it best to instead "let the girls do it." Athletes have rallied behind her.
