Simone Biles revealed her aunt died unexpectedly a couple of days before she returned to the Tokyo Olympics.
The 24-year-old shared the tragic news about her paternal aunt during a news conference on Tuesday, per CBS News.
“At the end of the day, people don’t understand what we are going through,” Biles told reporters. “Two days ago, I woke up, and my aunt unexpectedly passed, and it wasn’t any easier being here at the Olympic Games.”
Biles won a bronze medal during her beam final earlier in the evening. Her return to the Olympics occurred a week after she pulled out of her individual competitions to recover from the “twisties” and focus on her mental health.
“People have to realize that, at the end of the day, we’re humans, we’re not just entertainment,” she added. “There are things going on behind the scenes that people have no idea about.”
Cecile Canqueteau-Land, Biles’ coach, told the media she was concerned about the GOAT’s wellbeing after she received the news, according to Us Magazine.
“I was like, ‘Oh my God. This week needs to be over,'” Canqueteau-Landi recalled. “I asked her, ‘What do you need?’ And she said, ‘I just need some time.’ I said, ‘You call me, text me if you need anything I’ll be here. Whatever that is.’ She called her parents. She said, ‘There’s nothing I can do from over here. So I’m just going to finish my week and when I get home we’ll deal with it.'”
Even though the Tokyo Games were turbulent, Biles said she is “keeping the door open” for another showing at the Olympics.
“I think I have to relish and take this Olympics in, and kind of recognize what I’ve done with my career because after 2016, I didn’t get to do that,” she told TODAY host Hoda Kotb. “Life just happens so quickly, and now I have a greater appreciation for life after everything that’s happened in the last five years.”
