TOKYO — As Simone Biles tried to fight through training, fight to get herself back to an Olympic Games she’d trained her entire life for, fight to restore herself as the total athlete — body and mind — that she knew she was, she stood in front of the uneven bars and grew so panicked, she started gasping for air.
“I couldn’t even breathe,” Biles said.
Biles was trying to describe her experiences here in Tokyo. It was Tuesday night, one week and four competition days after she withdrew from the gymnastics team competition after a single, doomed rotation, sparking a global frenzy and upending these Olympics.