Mental health of athletes spotlighted in 2021
Simone Biles understands now that she was struggling long before she arrived at the Tokyo Olympics, where the unofficial face of the Games and one of the greatest gymnasts of all time was unable to force a smile and push her way through on the world’s biggest stage.
Biles had persevered through the widespread sexual and emotional abuse scandal that rocked the gymnastics community. She continued her intense training and preparation for the Olympics through its yearlong pandemic delay.
She was fine, she convinced herself.
But when the seven-time Olympic medalist stepped onto the floor in July for the women’s team final, she was not fine. Biles was suffering from “the twisties,” a phenomenon in which she’d lost her sense of air because her mind and body could not sync, and she walked off the floor.
“I think it’s definitely pent up emotions, aggressions for the past couple of years, trauma that led to that moment of once I got on the global scene, it just cracked,” Biles said.
Recognizing that she was not in the right head space to compete safely, Biles ultimately pulled out of four events. She returned to win a bronze medal on the beam, but that shiny piece of hardware represented a much larger victory for Biles.
Her very public admission that she was struggling, which followed a decision months earlier by tennis player Naomi Osaka to withdraw from the French Open and not play Wimbledon, redefined the mental health discussion that’s been coursing through sports.
“I gave so many opportunities to a lot of the athletes