one of the world’s best athletes just withdrew from a highly-anticipated final event at the olympics to focus on her mental health.simone biles, the 24-year-old american gymnast with four olympic gold medals and 25 world championship medals, shocked viewers around the world when she withdrew from the olympic team final while it was underway on tuesday. her first vault rotation didn’t go as planned, and she knew she had to stop, she said.
“after the performance i did, i just didn’t want to go on,” biles told reporters. “i have to focus on my mental health and well-being. i just think mental health is more prevalent in sports right now…. we have to protect our minds and our bodies and not just go out and do what the world wants us to do.”she said she was inspired in part by tennis star
naomi osaka, who withdrew from the french open in may when organizers wouldn’t let her skip post-game press conferences, which she said were difficult for her at a time when she was under enormous pressure. “i’ve often felt that people have
no regard for athletes [sic] mental health,” osaka said at the time.withdrawing from olympic competition is “very uncharacteristic of me,” biles said on tuesday. “so it just sucks that it happens here at the olympic games than have it happen at any other time. but, you know, with the year that it’s been, i’m really not surprised.”she has spoken about the heavy emotional toll of the pandemic,
telling glamour in june that she thought about giving up gymnastics during the seven-week lockdown when she couldn’t train. when she did return to the sport, she made a conscious effort to strike a work-life balance, she said: “before i would only focus on the gym… but me being happy outside the gym is just as important as me being happy and doing well in the gym.”being extraordinary
comes with high stakes. professional athletes are under incredible pressure, even when they’re not competing at the olympics — arguably the highest-level, most scrutinized sporting event in the world. “stress-related illnesses are extremely common in professional sports, and they are becoming more so as the pressures on athletes increase,” dr. barry cripps, chairman of the sports and exercise division of the british psychological society,
told the independent. “the expectations are enormous and sometimes people cannot handle it.”on monday, biles wrote on instagram that she had had a hard day, and that the olympics are “no joke.”“i truly do feel like i have the weight of the world on my shoulders at times,” she added.