Olympic athlete Simone Biles withdraws from the 2020 Tokyo Games for her mental health
By Donovan Martin
Olympic athlete and silver-medalist Simone Biles has withdrawn from the 2020 Olympics. This comes after her feelings of immense stress during the Games. To focus on her mental health, Simone has decided to not continue to participate in Tokyo. Initially, Biles believed that she was prepared for the event, but in the back of her mind crept the idea that something was off.
Now Biles is an amazing athlete. At the World Championships (2013-2015, 2018, 2019), she has 19 gold medals, 3 silvers, and 3 bronzes. She is also a two-time Olympian (2016, 2020) with four gold medals, one silver, and one bronze. Her most recent medal was a silver in the women’s artistic team all-around event. Yet despite these successes, she is still subject to stress as is any person.
“I have to focus on my mental health,” she said after the artistic team all-around event. “I just think mental health is more prevalent in sports right now. We have to protect our minds and our bodies, rather than just go out there and do what the world wants us to do.”
Biles withdrew from the competition on July 27, 2021, just after one vault in her event. Doing so allowed Russia to win gold in the event.
“I didn’t want to go into any of the other events second-guessing myself,” Biles said. “So, I thought it would be better if I took a step back and let these girls go out there and do their job.”
Simone Biles praised her fellow teammates for their excellent work but finds it best to take a break from the events in the meantime. Hopefully, given enough time and resources, she’ll be back to her top-shape self again.
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