Simone Biles had the proverbial weight on her shoulders heading into Tokyo. This weight looking very much like 1.2 pounds of Olympic gold. In case you didn’t know, an Olympic gold medal weighs about 1.2 pounds.
Approaching this Olympic Games I can only imagine the mental and physical stress Simone experienced, along with many other athletes. It is important to point out that Simone was in the spotlight everywhere you looked on social media, expectations high and unforgiving.
Each athlete’s body and mind has a breaking point and every athlete copes in different ways. As a former Division 1 athlete in the hurdles, I can only speak for myself, but I suffered many mental breakdowns, in most cases exacerbated by physical injuries. Some days I simply forgot how too hurdle and could not even make it out of the blocks to the first hurdle with the correct steps. Frustrated and exhausted, my body and mind simply froze. My body and mind would not cooperate and absolute fear took over. Call it what you want-performance anxiety, over-training syndrome, mental and physical stress-it is a real thing and can hit at any time.
In addition to the normal stresses of an athlete, this year, every athlete had to deal with COVID, training through COVID, dealing with the delay of the Olympics for a year, wondering if the Olympics would be cancelled again. Specifically to gymnasts and Simone Biles, added stressors heading into Tokyo included the decertification, breakdown and bankruptcy of USA Gymnastics following the exposure of sexual predator team physician Larry Nassar, who sexually abused Simone and many other gymnasts. Thankfully he was convicted and will rot in prison for the rest of his pathetic life. While I am not a mental health care provider, there is no doubt in my mind that Simone and many other athletes subjected to Nassar’s abuse suffer PTSD, and many have not received the treatment that they need. To add to the pile of personal pressures on Simone, she certainly had to be affected by the June murder trial of her brother, who was subsequently acquitted. If you are not already stressed out by reading this up to this point, Simone revealed that her aunt passed away during the Olympics. This sure is a lot for one 4’8 human being deal with. All the while she was expected to be the best in the world.
Simone said in her Facebook Watch docuseries “Simone vs Herself” that fear motivates her. It motivated her until it didn’t and her “twisties” took over motivating her decision to withdraw from the games. You never know when fear will take over. It’s easy to sit back and judge and say Simone gave up on herself, her team and her country, that she’s selfish, that she choked. What is not easy, is to break down in front of the world with all eyes on you, scrutinizing you, while on the biggest stage on Earth, to break down when you’re on the brink of accomplishing what no other gymnast has accomplished, to feel that you let yourself down, your team down, and your country down. To put a big smile on your face and try to prove to everyone that that it is ok to not be ok.
Simon did not choose herself over her team. She not only withdrew from the team finals but took herself out of the individual all around competition, a title she was in Tokyo to defend. She gave up her chance to win another all around gold. She gave up her chance to carve herself a spot in the record books. She chose her sanity and mental health over potentially deepening her mental crisis and injuring herself physically and permanently.
Did Simone’s sponsors drop her after her withdrawal? No. Her sponsors applauded her. They did not give up on her. Simone’s sponsor Athleta is the forefront and epitome of supporting women athletes and their well-being. “We stand by Simone and support her well-being both in and out of competition," Athleta Chief Brand Officer Kyle Andrew said in a statement. "Being the best also means knowing how to take care of yourself. We are inspired by her leadership today and are behind her every step of the way."
In my opinion, there is a reason Simone left Nike for Athleta, as did track superstar Allyson Felix. To have a brand believe in you and support you both physically and mentally is refreshing and encouraging. I hope to see more brands and sponsors follow Athleta’s lead, especially when it comes to female athletes who face a unique set of circumstances including gender equality, sexism, body image issues, postpartum depression, and child care issues, to name a few. In the new era of NIL, a sponsor’s role will become very important in promoting and supporting the well-being of the young female athletes.
I hope people will step back and consider what an athlete might be going through before they are so quick to offer judgment.
Simone chose Gold Mental over Gold Medal and we are proud of her.
