To say that she “broke under the pressure” was obviously not enough. Too simplistic. Asked to talk about what drove her to drop several gymnastics events at the Tokyo Olympics, Simone Biles said on Monday that her struggles started even before she arrived in Japan.
“I wouldn’t even say it started in Tokyo. I feel like it was probably a little more ingrained than that, ”the brilliant gymnast said in a video chat with her mother, posted by one of her sponsors, Athleta, on Monday. “The stress factor built up over time, and my body and mind just said no. But even I didn’t know I was going through this period until it happened, ”added the American gymnast.
Nicknamed “the goat”, because of the acronym “greatest of all times”, the Goat, four times gold medalist at the Rio Games, among other distinctions, the inventor of several incredible figures had to delight the spectators of her exploits in Tokyo. But she suddenly decided to withdraw from several trials. Biles was the victim of “twisties” in Tokyo, a potentially dangerous phenomenon that causes gymnasts to lose their sense of direction when in the air. Even if “it sucks to train for five years for this moment and that it does not go as we wanted”, she confided yesterday, the young woman thinks she was right: “I knew that I did not couldn’t go. I knew I was going to get hurt ”. We also know that memories of the pedophile actions of the doctor of the American gymnastics team, Larry Nassar, have come to the surface.
“It was the first time that I felt human”
After this package, “I obviously expected to feel a big backlash and a lot of embarrassment. But it is quite the opposite. It was the first time that I felt human. More than Biles, I was Simone, and people kind of respected that, ”said the Texan. “I know I’ve helped a lot of people and athletes speak out about mental health and say no,” she also said.
His decision was greeted with much more understanding and empathy than Naomi Osaka’s withdrawal from Roland Garros two months earlier. Unfortunately, her example did not prevent New Zealand cyclist Olivia Podmore from ending her life.
