Tokyo Olympics: With Simone Biles' withdrawal, all eyes turn to Suni Lee in women's gymnastics competition

SCREEN CAPTURE / NBC

Sunisa Lee is now the best hope in the gymnastic individual all-around competition.

UPDATED July 28, 11:15 a.m. PDT, to include Lee's tweet.

Suddenly,18-year old Suni Lee, the first Hmong American Olympic athlete, was in the spotlight, and so was the pressure.

That changed Sunday. Shaky mental health was the reason Simone Biles, who before the Olympics was expected to sweep all the gold medals, withdrew from the gymnastics team competition at the Tokyo Olympics.

Lee, who finished second to Biles in the U.S. championships, delivered when the U.S. team was still reeling from Biles decision and needed an emotional lift to remain competitive with the Russians

After a shaky performance on the vault, Biles took herself out of the competition and suddenly left the floor. She returned, but she had decided to not compete in the team competition. Biles' training partner Jordan Chiles was called in the take the place of Biles.

The next event, the uneven bars, is Lee's specialty. It is the one apparatus that Biles was not expected to win because of Lee's complex spectacular routine. She earned a score of 15.4, the highest score of the night. Lee's performance on the bars signaled the rest of the room that the U.S. was not going to go down without a fight.

Lee nailed her balance beam routine. The rest of the U.S. team did their best with just a few mistakes.

Lee took Biles place on the floor competition and even without preparation or warm up, scored high enough to keep the U.S. close to the Russians.

The Russians three strong floor routines was enough fo win the team competition, The first time in three straight Olympics that the U.S. did not take the gold.

Lee will now compete in Thursday's individual all-around, a competition that she could win, now that her teammate Biles is not competing.

Meanwhile, Biles, acknowledged as the greatest gymnast -- male or female -- of all time will decide later whether or not she will compete in the separate apparatus.

Late Tuesday night, Biles announced that she would not be taking part in the individual all-around. "I'm taking one day at a time," she told reporters, admitting that the problem is more mental than physical.

"Whenever you get in a high stress situation, you kind of freak out," Biles told reporters on Tuesday. "I have to focus on my mental health and not jeopardize my health and well-being.

"It just sucks when you're fighting with your own head." 

"After further medical evaluation, Simone Biles has withdrawn from the final individual all-around competition at the Tokyo Olympic Games, in order to focus on her mental health," tweeted USA Gymnastics.

"Simone will continue to be evaluated daily to determine whether or not to participate in next week's individual event finals. Jade Carey, who had the ninth highest score in qualifications, will participate in her place in the all-around.

"We wholeheartedly support Simone's decision and applaud her bravery in prioritizing her well-being. Her courage shows, yet again, why she is a role model for so many."

Asked about Biles in a press conference after the team competition, Lee responded, “To see her kind of go out like that is very sad because this Olympic Games, I feel like, is kind of hers.”

A reporter asked Lee if she stacks up against the competition, Biles interjected, giving  Lee some impromptu advice, "Instead of competing against other people, if you just focus on yourself you'll be alright."

Later on Tuesday night, Lee, a native of St. Paul, Minn, tweeted that she has “never been prouder to be apart of such an amazing team with an amazing group of girls.”

She added: “We stepped up when we needed to and did this for ourselves. we do not owe anyone a gold medal, we are WINNERS in our hearts.”