For the second to last post, I will focus on the greatest gymnast of all time, Simone Biles. She is an insane athlete who not only has five skills named after her in three different events, but she also has four Olympic golds and twenty-three World Championships. To qualify for the Olympics, your team must qualify during the previous World Championships, team as in the United States. Then, the United States has an Olympic Trial, which consists of regular gymnastics meet and scoring. After, the person with the top two finishes qualifies for the Olympics, and the United States Olympic Committee, run by USA gymnastics, decides on the remaining three.
In 2016, Simone Biles won at the Olympic trials in the all-around, vault, floor, and beam. The All-around is the average score from all four of the events (vault, floor, beam, and uneven bars). Since Simone qualified for the all-around, she would be competing in the bars, to count towards the all-around, in the Olympics. At the Olympics, she placed first in the all-around, with her wins in the vault and floor exercise. She placed third in the beam, and she got a 0.5-point deduction for grabbing onto the beam. After her, and her teammates, success, the United States won gold in the team category, giving Simone her four Olympic golds, and one bronze.
During the next few years, she won many golds at the World Championships leading up to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. At the trials she was the only athlete that qualified for all the individual finals. Leading up to the games, however, Simone Biles commented on Instagrams that she was feeling the “weight of the world on her shoulders”, and that the pressure of the Olympics was on.
At the 2020 games, she did a twist less in the vault than she was supposed to, after doing it again she withdrew from that event and then the rest of the events besides the beam. One of the main reasons that she decided to withdraw was because she had a case of the “twisties”, which is where gymnasts lose their sense of where they are when they are in the air. This can be very dangerous, as people can get seriously hurt in the sport. She also said that it was better for her mental health if she withdrew. Several people were against her decision to withdraw, but a lot of others supported her, including the most decorated Olympian of all time, Micheal Phelps. He explains how important mental health is and that he understands how pressure can affect you mentally. Simone explained that she had never felt that nervous going into a meet, and that she was actually shaking.
Recently, Simone has been getting back into the sport, with no guarantee for the Olympics. She says how she is taking it one step at a time. Overall, her experience at the Olympics has showcased mental health even more in a society that is finally starting to see it and understand its importance.
