As the four members of the team were thought to be a lock for the gold medal, and Carey, the other individual, had qualified for two event finals, it looked as if Skinner would be the only American woman to go home empty-handed. But as the third-highest-ranking American, behind Biles and Jade Carey, she was ineligible to compete due to the two-per-country rule. Skinner hit on all four events during the preliminaries and finished in fourth place on vault. She knew she had one day to make her Olympic experience count. team's two individual competitors, her scores wouldn't count toward the team total and she wouldn't be included in the team final. Skinner would be a member of the Tokyo-bound team, but not the team. Tokyo 2020Īll the news from the Summer Games in Tokyo on ESPN: Read more »ĭuring Olympic trials in June, she achieved her dream of becoming an Olympian, but with an asterisk. Then she was hospitalized with pneumonia and the coronavirus in early 2021 and was out of the gym for a month. The year she planned to train turned into two because of the pandemic. After three years at the college level, she announced her return to elite with her sights firmly set on Tokyo. But she couldn't shake her childhood dream. She was so close to what she had always wanted, but so far.Īfter returning home from Rio, she set her sights on NCAA and won two national titles for Utah. She watched the "Final Five" claim the gold medal as an alternate from the stands. She narrowly missed out on making the 2016 Olympic team. Skinner's long and often agonizing path to the Olympics has been well documented. "To be able to do this for myself, and so grateful for the opportunities to come back after being an alternate in 2016 and having COVID and pneumonia and all the setbacks I have had." "This has seriously been such an honor to be able to step in for Simone and be able to win this medal," Skinner, 24, said Sunday night. In a career filled with the improbable, this might just be the unlikeliest and most fitting ending of all. Now, one week after her tearful goodbye to the sport, Skinner is an Olympic silver medalist. On Saturday, Biles told her she was going to opt out and Skinner would need to replace her.
She didn't think she would actually have the chance to participate in the vault final, but she tried her best to train and get back into the competitive mindset despite the uncertainty. Before the night was even over, Biles insisted someone reach out to Skinner immediately. Simone Biles had just withdrawn from the team final and was concerned about her ability to compete in the event finals.
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