"I threw myself across bed...felt like having a panic attack" - When Simone Biles recalled being stressed by expectations of winning five gold medals

Simone Biles once revealed she had a panic attack following a failure during practice while the media was hyping her up to win five gold medals at the Rio Olympics. While it was the gymnast's debut Olympic appearance, she nonetheless managed to walk away with four gold medals.

Biles made her senior debut at the 2013 American Classic after being named a replacement for 2012 Olympic champion Kyla Ross. She finished second on the all-around and later won her maiden national all-around title at the U.S. National Gymnastics Championships.

The 27-year-old took the world by surprise at the 2013 World Championships, winning the all-around and floor exercise titles. She won four gold medals each at the 2014 and 2015 World Championships and after placing first at the U.S. Olympic Trials, Biles was projected to win a historic five gold medals at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

However, the then-19-year-old was struggling with her uneven bars routine a couple of weeks before the start of the Games. After her coach Aimee Boorman advised her to go home, Biles suffered a panic attack.

"Once inside my room, I threw myself across the bed and really let myself bawl. My chest heaved, and I could barely catch my breath. I felt as if I was having a full-blown panic attack," Simone Biles recalled in her 2016 memoir 'Courage to Soar: A Body in Motion, A Life in Balance'.

Biles explained that she was a 'little grumpy' after placing first at the U.S. Olympic Trials and the subsequent expectations of winning five gold medals at the Rio Olympics wore her down.

"The truth was, I’d been a little grumpy with my family ever since getting back from San Jose. The stress of having to follow up on my first-place finish at Trials was getting to me. Everywhere I looked, articles in magazines, newspapers, and online were declaring me America’s best hope to win five gold medals in Rio. I refused to read any of the stories. How could I think about winning gold and making history when I couldn’t even get my bar routine straight?" she wrote.

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Simone Biles won five medals at the 2016 Rio Olympics

2024 Summer Olympics - Simone Biles in action (Source: Getty)

With all the pressure and expectations on her to deliver big, Simone Biles earned her first Olympic gold medal in the team competition as she led the scoring for Team USA alongside 2012 all-around Olympic champion Gabby Douglas.

Biles put up an emphatic performance in the all-around finals afterward, scoring a massive 62.198 for the win ahead of compatriot Aly Raisman and Russia's Aliya Mustafina. The 27-year-old earned her third gold medal in the vault competition, earning a dominant score of 15.966 over Maria Paseka's 15.253.

The Texas native settled for a bronze medal in the balance beam competition before picking up her fourth gold in the floor exercise. She scored 15.996 in the latter to become only the fourth gymnast in history to win four gold medals at a single edition of the Olympic Games.