Like many around the world, I was ecstatic to tune into the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo. Even though I am not much of a sports fan, I enjoy watching the Olympics. Olympians hold a special place in my heart because of their hardwork and dedication to strive for a dream that only comes every four years. The raw emotion and inspiring stories of adversity is what makes the Olympics so special. I was especially looking forward to watching Simone Biles, aka The GOAT (greatest of all time), lead the women’s U.S Gymnastics team. Since I first saw Biles back in the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio, I have been in awe of her strength, courage, and bravery both on and off the competition floor. My admiration of her grew when she decided not to compete in the team, floor, vault, and uneven bars final events due to her struggles with mental health and the “twisties.” Simone Biles is not only the GOAT, for her amazing gymnastics career but also for walking away from the competition floor to protect and prioritize her mental health.
At 24 years old, Simone Biles is the most accomplished gymnast: she has won seven Olympic medals (four gold medals at the 2016 Games in the all-around, vault, floor, and team events), 25 World Championship medals (19 of those gold), and has 4 skills named after her. However, it has not been an easy journey for Biles. In 2018, Biles announced that she was abused by former USA gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar. Recently, Biles stated in an interview that she felt an obligation to the other victims to compete in the Olympics, “Because I feel like if there weren’t a remaining survivor in the sport, they would’ve just brushed it to the side.” Though Biles performs and masters difficult skills that not many others are able to do, she is not scored as high as she should be. According to an article posted by the New York Times, when Biles executed the extremely difficult and dangerous Yurchenko double pike on vault during the 2021 U.S Classic, her difficulty score was rated too low, bringing her overall score down. This also happened with her beam routine. Some spectate that the judges gave her a lower score to prevent other gymnasts from trying to perform these dangerous skills. Biles had a different opinion stating, “They’re both too low and they even know it…But they don’t want the field to be too far apart. And that’s just something that’s on them. That’s not on me.” It is worth mentioning that Biles will not stop performing these skills. During this year’s Olympics, Bile’s aunt passed away. As mentioned previously, at Olympics, Biles withdrew from most of the events she was supposed to compete in due to struggles with her mental health and the “twisties” (disorientation in the air causing her to feel lost that could lead to serious or fatal injury). After withdrawing from the team final, Biles expressed that she did not want to risk hurting herself or costing the team a medal. Biles posted on her Instagram after the qualifying events that she feels “the weight of the world.” During a press conference, Biles declared that, “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…We’re not just athletes, we’re people at the end of the day and sometimes you just have to step back.” She decided to compete for the beam final event, because of the lack of twists her routine had, and ended up winning the bronze medal.
Though many publicly announced their support of Biles, like former teammates Aly Raisman and Laurie Hernandez, and public figures like Kerry Washington and Michelle Obama, others have accused Biles of being selfish and a “quitter.” I have seen comments from critics, including random people on the internet, claiming that Biles was selfish for leaving her team during the team event and for “taking a spot” from someone else on the Olympic team. Ben Maller, of Fox Sports Radio, went as far to call Biles, “the biggest quitter in sports,” a “desertor,” and proclaimed that Biles is going to make more money off of “quitting like Naomi Osaka.” Others don’t think that Biles is living up to her GOAT title, because in their minds GOATS or “true Olympians” don’t “walk out on their team.” Doug Gottlieb of Fox Sports, believes the media is giving Biles a pass and not critiquing her enough or at all compared to male athletes who he thinks the media and public are harder on. I agree that we do not discuss male athlete’s mental health enough. However, Gottlieb is implying that every athlete regardless of their gender is still expected to compete when they go through mental health struggles and that we should still critique them regardless. His statement of “NOBODY has been critical of Simone Biles” is untrue. He also does not discuss the impact of gender roles: how the patriarchy has conditioned men to not express their emotions and how many still believe that women like Biles need to obey and shut up. He also failed to mention how Bile’s gender and race play a role in the pressure that is put on her and the criticism she receives.
Critics forget that gymnastics is a dangerous sport that can cause serious injury and death. According to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, “Gymnastics has one of the highest injury rates among girls’ sports, with almost 100,000 gymnasts injured each year.” In 2019, Southern Connecticut University student Melanie Coleman died after falling off the uneven bars. Gymnasts Julissa Gomez, Adriana Duffy, and Sang Lan, all became paralyzed after accidents on vault. Risk of injury is especially high when gymnasts’ minds and bodies aren’t in sync. Many were surprised, including Biles herself, that she landed on her feet while experiencing the “twisties” during her vault routine in the team final event. To show her fans the effects of the “twisties,” Biles shared on her Instagram stories videos of her practicing the uneven bars and failing to stick her landing.
Bile’s actions pulled back the curtain on the problems with the sports world, that you have to sacrifice your physical and mental health for the sake of victory. Michael Messner, a sociologist and a Professor at USC, primarily studies gender and sports. Messner’s book, Taking the Field:Women, Men, and Sports, discusses how male athletes are taught to treat their bodies as machines and instruments. Applicable to all genders, athletes learn to ignore their injuries and risk their health in order to win for their team. Business Insider called athletes, like Tiger Woods who won the 2008 U.S Open with a torn ACL and broken leg and football player Jack Youngblood who stayed in a 1979 playoff game after breaking his leg, “tough” for competing while injured. Kerri Strugg and Shun Fujimoto are examples of gymnasts who pushed through injury in hopes of winning an Olympic victory. Kerri Strugg, a gymnast on the 1996 USA Olympic team, secured the gold medal for the team event after landing on one foot during her second vault due to spraining her ankle on her first vault. Gymnast Shun Fujimoto broke his kneecap in the floor event at the 1976 Olympic games and completed the ring event anyway, leading to a gold medal. Sometimes athletes’ pain is ignored and they are forced to compete. Gymnast Elena Mukhina broke her leg before the 1980 Olympic Games. She was told to keep training for the games even when she wasn’t fully healed and didn’t feel safe. She became paralyzed after falling on her chin while trying to execute a dangerous move. Though athletes can be expected to perform when they have physical pain, there is less sympathy when the issue is mental. Mental health is highly stigmatized especially in the sports world. Since the issue cannot be seen like physical pain, people have a difficult time believing that it exists. Tennis player, Naomi Osaka, was fined $15,000 when she did not want to attend a press conference during the French Open to protect her mental health. She shared her statement on Twitter: “I’ve often felt that people have no regard for athletes’ mental health and this rings very true whenever I see a press conference or partake in one. We’re often sat there and asked questions that we’ve been asked multiple times before or asked questions that bring doubt into our minds and I’m just not going to subject myself to people that doubt me.” She then decided to drop out of the French Open. She was criticized for exemplifying “diva behavior.” If an athlete steps away, especially for their mental health, they are deemed a label no one wants, a “quitter.”
When we declare athletes like Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka as “quitters” and “unsportsmanlike” for doing what is necessary to protect their mental health, we are taking away their humanity and are instead seeing them as “machines” for our own entertainment
With all of this in mind I want to pose two questions: 1. Why does stepping away and taking the time you need, especially for your mental health equate to “quitting,” being “weak,” “selfish,” or a “diva”? 2. I also wonder, what is so wrong about quitting? In response to the first question people tend to forget that athletes are human! Shocking right!? When we praise fighting through the injury and prioritizing the team and the win over the person, we forget that athletes are human. Yes, Simone Biles can do astonishing things but she is a human being and human beings struggle with their mental health. Being someone with anxiety and depression I admire what Biles did. How dare people out there call her selfish for caring about herself when the public puts so much pressure on her to be a role model for other young black women. We put too much emphasis on not being a “quitter” as if “quitting” is always the worst thing we can do. We are taught from a young age to finish what we start and not give up. Okay, I understand the importance of working hard and seeing things through but I do not think that needs to come at the sacrifice of our mental and physical health. Athletes are taught that if they take a break or take care of themselves mentally, that they should be shamed and ostracized. When we declare athletes like Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka as “quitters” and “unsportsmanlike” for doing what is necessary to protect their mental health, we are taking away their humanity and are instead seeing them as “machines” for our own entertainment. By walking out and telling the world “I just need to focus on my mental health,” Simone Biles is shining a light on her humanity. She is disrupting this damaging belief system that the sports world is built on and is making athletics a better place. She is not weak or gave up on her team. She did not take away a spot from someone else. She earned her place in the competitive field and she deserves to do whatever she wants with it. She is teaching us all a valuable lesson by reminding us that mental health matters and that you are allowed to rest. She is showing those who struggle with depression and anxiety like myself that you matter and are worthy. Simone Biles you are a true courageous and heroic queen and I thank you for your bravery.