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- Simone Biles says she told her teammates they would be "just fine" after she withdrew from the gymnastics team final on Tuesday.
- Biles withdrew from the final over mental health concerns.
- She said her teammates were "freaking out." She told them: "Just lay it out on the floor and see what happens."
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Simone Biles says she told her teammates they would be "just fine" after she withdrew from the gymnastics team final over mental health concerns at the Tokyo Games on Tuesday.
"You have done all the training, you can do this without me and it will be just fine," she told "Today" host Hoda Kotb of what she told teammates, Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles and Grace McCallum.
"They were freaking out," she added. "They were like, crying, and I was like, 'You guys need to relax, you're going to be fine without me, go out there and kick some butt, just like we've done in training. And just lay it out on the floor and see what happens!'"
The women's gymnastics team ended up winning silver medals in the team final, with the Russian gymnastics team earning the gold.
Biles said in a press conference after the competition that she had endured a "really stressful day" and had been shaking because of the anticipation.
"It's been really stressful this Olympic games... it's been a long week, a long Olympic process, a long year," Biles said, per ESPN's Michele Steele. "I think we're a little too stressed out - we should be out here having fun and that's just not the case."
"Once I came out here, I was like, no the mental is not there," she added. "I had to let the girls do it."
Biles is scheduled to defend her title in the individual all-around final on Thursday and compete in several individual finals in the following days.
She said she will "hopefully" compete in her upcoming events.