American
gymnast Sunisa Lee on Thursday won the gold medal in the women’s artistic
individual all-around event at the Tokyo Olympics, a medal widely expected to be bagged by her compatriot
Simone Biles, who withdrew from the event earlier.

The 18-year-old
sensation posted a winning total of 57.433 after the final rotation, the floor
exercise, to clinch gold and secure the title for the United States for a fifth
consecutive Olympics, with her teammate Biles watching on from the stands at
the Ariake Gymnastics Centre.

Meanwhile,
22-year-old Brazilian Rebeca Andrade won her country’s first-ever medal in women’s
gymnastics as she clinched silver after having led the rankings for most of the
event. She finished agonisingly close to gold with 57.298 points.

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Russian
Olympics Committee’s (ROC) A Melinkova rounded off the podium places with the bronze medal.

Lee is considered
the heir apparent to Biles, who has won every all-around competition she has
participated in since 2013. The 24-year-old had confirmed her decision to withdraw
from the event after withdrawing from the team event earlier on Tuesday.

In the team
event, she had one poor vault and said she needed to focus on her mental
health. “After further medical evaluation, Simone Biles has withdrawn from the
final individual all-around competition,” US Gymnastics said in a statement on
Twitter.

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“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,” it added.

Biles had earlier said in an Instagram post that she felt “like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders at times.”

This came after she and her teammates made uncharacteristic mistakes on the floor and the vault during the qualification rounds and failed to top the scoring at a world championship or Olympics for the first time since 2010.