'The Fighting 4': Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles Praise 'Role Model' Simone Biles After Team Silver in Tokyo
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Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images Team USA Gymnastics after winning silver
The nickname for the U.S. women's gymnastics team may have been revealed.
On Wednesday, Sunisa Lee, Jordan Chiles and Grace McCallum called their team — including Simone Biles, the "fighting four" — a reference to how they fought for a medal after Biles, 24, withdrew from the rest of the competition following her first apparatus.
"Olympic silver medalists. The fighting 4 🤍 beyond proud of this team. In my heart, we are winners. We fought til the end and didn't give up. Tonight may not have gone how we wanted it to but we stepped up to the plate and give it our all. best team I could've asked for," Lee wrote on Tuesday evening after earning silver.
Dedicating a post to the veteran captain on Wednesday, the 18-year-old Minnesota native called Biles a "role model."
"Proud of you & everything you've accomplished! Thank you for being a role model and someone I look up to every single day," Lee wrote on Instagram. "You not only inspire me as a gymnast but as a person as well. your fearlessness and ability to do the impossible does not go unnoticed, we love you!!"
RELATED: What Simone Biles Told Her Teammates When She Withdrew from the Rest of the Team Final
RELATED: Simone Biles Withdraws from Olympic Individual All-Around Gymnastics Competition After Team Opt-Out
In addition, Chiles, who moved from Washington to Texas to train with Biles, shared a letter to the five-time Olympic medalist.
"To my best friend, just thinking about everything we have gone through together from us getting mad at each other for no reason to laughing at jokes, to bringing the love of this sport back to me with your help words can't explain how proud I am of you. I LOVE YOU and am literally crying just thinking about everything. WE did this together🥺 -love jo🤞🏾💕," the 20-year-old wrote on Instagram, Wednesday.
After placing second on Tuesday, Chiles celebrated the four-member squad, writing: "Olympians and Silver Olympic Medalist 😱😱 the fighting 4 fought all the way to the end, and will continue to fight. Beyond proud of these amazing girls and couldn't do it without them!!"
McCallum also applauded the fight that each gymnast gave to win silver.
"I'm so unbelievably proud of this team. We stuck together through it all and fought till the very end. I'm truly blessed to have such an amazing team, the fighting four," the Minnesota native wrote on Instagram.
During the press conference after the final, Biles, Lee and Chiles spoke about how they "fought through this entire competition" with the latter also calling her teammates "fighters."
"There was definitely a lot of emotions running through all of our heads, but I'm really proud that we were able to step up to the plate and do what we needed to do. It's very hard to lose a teammate, especially at the Olympic Games," Lee said.
"For me, I'm proud for how the girls stepped up and did what they had to do. I owe this to the girls, it has nothing to do with me. I am very proud of them," Biles said.
RELATED: Simone Biles in Tokyo: All the Medal Events She Could Still Compete in at Second Olympics
Photo by Fred Lee/Getty Images
Biles also shared why she withdrew from the final, citing her mental health. "Just dealing with some things internally which will get fixed out in the next couple of days," she said, explaining that she was worried her stress would negatively impact her performance and the team's chances to medal.
As for whether she will compete in the individual finals in vault, beam, uneven bars and floor, Biles told Today that she's "going to take it day by day and we're just going to see."
To learn more about Team USA, visit TeamUSA.org. Watch the Tokyo Olympics now on NBC.
