BarcelonaSimone Biles must have woken up with her phone full of messages. Once it was announced that she would also be giving up the women’s individual gymnastics final, the show of support didn’t stop her from arriving. Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, the first lady of the United States. Boxers, swimmers, basketball players, singers, politicians … The woman who had to leave Tokyo with her suitcase full of medals has once again revolutionized the sport. He first did it with his exercises on the track. And now putting the mental health of athletes at the center of the debate, who are increasingly being demanded to get better marks, even if it is taking their body and mind to the limit. “You just have to be more discriminating with the help you render toward other people. It’s my priority “, Biles explained without losing his laughter, as if he wanted to remember that his challenge is to be happy in life and that it’s better to smile outside than to be unhappy competing.
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Yes, Simone Biles is special. A woman who succeeded at the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016 as a gymnast and has now dared to do what so many athletes have not been able to do before. “It is a particularly demanding sport. Every detail makes a difference and if you’re not 100% focused, you can take it wrong. A fall in an exercise like this can take you to the hospital, ”says former gymnast Gervasio Deferr. “But his gesture is very important, because if you do not take a step like his in time, you can have consequences later,” he adds. For many years, it was hard to talk openly about mental health, when everyone knew that many professional athletes ended up in serious trouble, especially once they retired. “It’s hard to fight the inner demons, like the pressure, the fear of failing others,” said Dutch cyclist Tom Dumoulin, who left the competition for a season because “he was not happy.” Yesterday he won silver in the Olympic time trial, while positively valuing Biles ’gesture. “How important it is to break these silences,” says former handball player and sports psychologist Xesco Espar. “In sports it is very difficult to admit that you are fucked, because you are afraid that your opponents will use it. You are afraid of failing those who have bet on you “, recalled the tennis player André Agassi, who came out in defense of Biles.
Simone Biles came to Tokyo as a big favorite. On the plane that took her to Japanese soil, the crew received her with a banner where they celebrated to accompany “to glory the best of all time.” Without idols already retired like Phelps, the American delegation was confident that she would be the queen of the Olympics, after successfully nailing jumps that no woman had done before. And almost no man can do that. But in Tokyo, the pressure of being forced to be perfect could with it. “I had very little to gain and much to lose. It wasn’t just about winning, it was about having to do things never seen before, as if it were easy, ”says psychologist Beatriz Martin.
Personal life
“We can’t value athletes without knowing what they have lived, what life they have. And she’s never had it easy, ”adds Martin, referring to the sexual abuse of gymnastics federation doctor Larry Nassar, suffered by a young woman who was estranged from her parents when she was little because they were drug addicts. In the age of social media, the anxiety of athletes grows, as in case of failure, millions of people get their criticism to you in a second. “And more in some Games. They have been waiting for the most global event for four years. And if you’re a favorite, imagine the pressure you put on it. Individual sports affect you even more. And in the case of Biles, a sport where everything is measured in centimeters, imagine ”, Espar explains.
Following in the footsteps of Naomi Osaka, Biles has put on the table problems that have always existed, but which were silenced or which were only talked about once the athlete retired, as in the case of swimmer Michael Phelps, who once retired had depressions and problems with alcohol. “The weight of having to win was getting stronger. And I didn’t dare to ask for help until the end “, he said yesterday. Biles has done it before. “Simone is paving a path that I hope will make our sport better,” said Phelps, the athlete with the most Olympic medals of all time. “Each medal weighs more than the last. First you compete to win and you are happy. Then everything changes. You compete so as not to disappoint others, thinking about what they will say about you “, said the great Nadia Comaneci, the best gymnast in history until the arrival of Biles. “In the end, it’s not a bad idea to remember that you have to do what’s best for you and not act thinking of others,” added the Romanian.
Biles will have to decide now whether to take part in the four apparatus finals of the Games. “If she regains the joy she had when she was a child, it is clear that she can compete. The key is to be happy “, said Comaneci. This is Biles’ goal, to be happy, to control the fate of his life. So simple and so complicated when everyone is looking at you.
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