'I didn't quit': Simone Biles responds to ugly Olympics backlash

Simone Biles has responded to the ugly backlash she received for withdrawing from the women's all-around individual event at the Tokyo Olympics this week.

Biles, winner of every all-around competition she entered since 2013, stunned the Olympics when she decided not to defend her Rio Games all-around title.

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She had already dropped out of the team event on Tuesday after one poor vault, citing the need to focus on her mental health.

But the gymnastics legend watched on from the stands as fellow American Sunisa Lee won the all-around gymnastics event.

Since then, Biles has taken to social media to hit back at the disgusting backlash she has received after withdrawing from the competition.

Many critics labelled Biles a 'quitter' and despite the Olympian finding overwhelming support, she felt the need to shut down the noise from outside the Olympic village.

“For anyone saying I quit, I didn’t quit,” Biles wrote on Friday.

“My mind and body are simply not in sync … I don’t think you realise how dangerous this is on [a] hard competition surface.

“I chose not to continue team competition [so not to jeopardise] losing a medal (of any colour) for the girls/US,” she added.

“Also for my own safety and health.”

Biles posted a video to go with the comments, which showed her attempting a dismount from the uneven bars on Friday.

The American comes up one and a half twists short and lands directly on her back on heavy pads.

Biles said she was suffering from the 'twisties' or 'lack of air awareness', which is when a gymnast is struggling to judge their spins and turns in the air before they land safely.

However, it is not just landing safely for gymnasts but landing with perfection for the judges scores.

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As the gymnasts marched over to the floor for their final attempts, only 0.201 separated the top three of Lee, Rebeca Andrade and 16-year-old Russian Vladislava Urazova.

Lee, the youngest member of the US team, put down a marker first with a score of 13.700, but she left the door open a crack for Andrade, the second-last to compete, to snatch the gold.

But the Brazilian, who had previously looked so poised, finally cracked by stepping out on her first tumbling run and then did so a second time, scoring 13.666, with the mistakes likely costing her the gold.

“Going into this meet I feel like there was a lot of pressure on me because I have been second to her (Biles) the whole season basically," said Lee.

"So I knew that people were kind of counting on me to either get second or win the gold medal.

"I tried not to focus on that because I knew that I would get too nervous."

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