Simone Biles doesn’t owe you anything
TOKYO — The cursed Olympics continue.
The day after she pulled out of the gymnastics team final, Simone Biles withdrew from her signature event, the allaround competition.
This boiling, coronavirusfilled cauldron of pressure that is the Tokyo Olympics is without its biggest name. Possibly for the rest of the Games. Individual apparatus events begin Sunday.
It’s one more blow to Tokyo. Another disappointment of these Games. COVID cases in the city are mounting. Athletes are quarantined in hotels. The torch lighter, Naomi Osaka, is gone, beaten in a thirdround match. Katie Ledecky had to remind people that silver medals are an achievement.
And Biles is suffering a deep personal crisis.
Like any injury, mental wounds can’t be healed overnight. Biles’ withdrawal was the wise and brave choice. Since she stepped away from the team final Tuesday, shocking the Tokyo Games and making headlines around the world, the pressure on her to return for Thursday’s allaround was
surely intense.
You can bet that involved in applying some sort of pressure, or at least eager desire for her to participate, were agents and sponsors and NBC. All the forces involved in Team Biles. She could have talked herself into trying for the sake of all those factors, for all the people and money and plans involved. But that would have been the dangerous choice. It would have, once again, been about others and not her. Not succumbing to that external pressure is the smart decision.
Biles has been forthright about how she was feeling. She didn’t know where she was on her vaults, balking in midair. She described herself as having “the twisties,” a sillysounding term for something debilitating and terrifying for gymnasts.
Biles is doubting herself. Her teammates saw her lack of confidence. She could have hurt the team. She could injure herself. That type of issue doesn’t disappear in a couple of days.
“I was just shaking,” Biles said of her state before the team final. “I just never felt like this going into a competition before.”
The howls from the socialmedia world and the American hottake media wafted in from across the Pacific. Let’s hope that Biles shut down her social media and took solace in her teammates (she was at the men’s all around final Wednesday cheering on Brody Malone and Sam Mikulak). The scorn being heaped on her by people who couldn’t vault over a cheeseburger is coming in hot and heavy. The charge of “soft” is very hard evidence of the very kind of mental challenge and pressures she faces.
The hottake bros want to liken her decision to Tom Brady sitting out a Super Bowl. Or Stephen Curry refusing to take a shot in a Game 7. But those are ridiculous comparisons. Those athletes wouldn’t risk breaking their necks if they competed while not being dialed in mentally.
Biles owes the viewer nothing. She has provided plenty of entertainment over the years. She has carried her team and her federation on her 4foot8 frame. She has been honest about the toll it has taken on her.
For God’s sake, she is a sexualabuse victim who went public about her abuse by former team doctor Larry Nassar. Any sexualabuse survivor can tell you that type of trauma can take a lifetime to overcome.
Yet Biles has been dealing with that pain in the public spotlight.
While being the best gymnast in the world. And the selling point of these tortured Olympics.
“Everyone around the world is watching,” swimmer Katie Ledecky said, when asked about the Olympic pressure. “You can feel like every move you make is being watched and judged.”
Some of Biles’ exposure is selfcreated, of course. She signed sponsorships. A deal with Facebook for a “Simone vs. Herself ” docuseries. Her own postOlympic tour.
But unlike professional athletes — the Bradys and Currys of the world — this is her one shot. She became famous in Rio. Then became the face of Tokyo. She will be finished after these Games, at 24, with a lifetime still ahead of her.
Biles spent her early years in foster care. She remembers not having enough food, before being adopted by her maternal grandparents. You think she might want to capitalize on her fame? On this one shot?
For the first time in her competitive life, her parents aren’t with her. Regulars at all her competitions, they are unable to support her through this crisis. FaceTime is nice, but it’s not like getting a hug from your mom and dad.
Mental health has been a huge issue around the globe during the pandemic. People are isolated, stressed, frightened. Many are burying feelings. Many are seeking help — mental health professionals have been overwhelmed. It’s a shared experience.
But we can’t share what Biles is going through. That is unique to these cursed Games. None of us can know how heavy a load she carries.