Mental Health at the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games

TOKYO — During the 2021 Olympic games, Simone Biles, reigning individual all-around gold medalist in Women’s Gymnastics, stepped out of the team and all-around finals due to her mental health. This was a shock to the world as she has been at the top of the podium since entering the elite gymnastics world and has always reacted well to the pressures of competition. Though shocking, many people were in support of her decision and looked at it as a good opportunity to open the topic of mental health in sports. 

One of the reasons for this withdrawal in competition was due to the phenomenon known as the “twisties”. This is when a gymnast gets “lost” in the air while doing a skill, which can be very dangerous and scary, resulting in injury. 

Though this had an impact in her pulling out of the competition, the main reason was her mental health, “After further medical evaluation, Simone Biles has withdrawn from the final individual all-around competition at the Tokyo Olympic Games, in order to focus on her mental health” This was especially stunning to the world, as in the past Biles dealt well with the immense pressures put on her.  

This decision ultimately resulted in her losing the chance to win the individual all-around gold, which she was favored to win, as well as, the USA team’s chance to win the team gold. The United States ended up winning silver in the team finals. Even though the chance of winning gold was lost, the reactions from the world were mainly in support of Biles advocating for her own mental health. This allowed Biles to realize she is “more than [her] accomplishments and gymnastics which [she] never truly believed before.” 

Critics took it to a whole new level when hearing of Biles’ decision to step back from the Olympic games. Many of these critics are not informed of the true situation that Biles is pushing through and fail to understand where she is coming from as both an athlete and real person. Much of these negative opinions include: 

• She should no longer be able to compete for USA Gymnastics
• She is an embarrassment to the sport
• She is weak for prioritizing mental health
• There’s nothing heroic or brave about quitting because you’re not having ‘fun’

While the critics are heard, they will not be listened to because Biles continues to show that nothing is more important than one’s life outside of the sport. 

Mental health within sports can often be looked at as weak, but Simone Biles stood as a role model, showing the world that even one of the greatest athletes of all time needs to take a step back for her mental health.