Stars break more than just records
Houston athletes busted barriers, advanced causes
Gymnast Simone Biles arrived at the Tokyo Olympics to defend her numerous gold medals. She withdrew from competition early but left a vocal defender of mental health and an inspiration to many.
Biles, a Spring-raised gymnast who was named Time magazine’s Athlete of the Year, was already one of the world’s highest-profile athletes and a favorite to set records in Tokyo. She won a bronze medal in balance beam and helped Team USA win a silver medal in team competition before she withdrew from her final four events citing a case of the “twisties,” a condition that affects an athlete’s ability to relate their body position to space while hurtling through the air.
Biles’ candid discussion of her anxiety in the wake of that decision, as well as her subsequent testimony to the U.S. Senate about sexual abuse from former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, was a flash point for a national conversation about athletes’ mental and physical well-being amid an unconventional year for Houston’s Olympians.
Competing in the Tokyo Games delayed a year by the global pandemic, many Houstonians set records with their athletic performances — but also broke barriers within sports and greater society by prompting reckonings of racial injustice and mental health.
Basketball star Brittney Griner, who while in Tokyo opened up about seeking mental health counseling, set a new record for points scored by a USA women’s player in a gold medal game when she scored 30 points on 14 of 18 shooting in Team USA’s win over Japan.
Swimmer Simone Manuel, a Sugar Land resident and 2016 gold medalist, fell one step short of qualifying for the 50-meter free final but resolved to keep using her platform to support social justice initiatives and people of color.
Katy wrestler Tamyra Mensah-Stock became the first Black woman — and second woman ever — to win wrestling gold for the United States. After her win, she proclaimed she was “setting the stage” for young Black girls to want to wrestle.
Raevyn Rogers of Kinkaid captured bronze in the women’s 800 meters by surging from last place into third over the race’s final 300 meters. She became the fourth-fastest American woman to run the event.
Additional achievements included Missouri City’s Bryce Deadmon winning gold in the men’s 4x400 relay and a bronze medal in the 4x400 mixed relay; Sarah Robles, who lives and trains in Houston, winning her second straight bronze medal as the first American woman ever to win multiple weightlifting medals; and Texas softball legend Cat Osterman coming out of retirement to compete in her third Olympic Games and help Team USA win a silver medal.