There is a video interlude during the “Gold Over America Tour” that Simone Biles spent the fall headlining where she offers advice to the audience of predominantly young women on how to deal with adversity.
“Regroup, reset and everything will be just fine,” she says.
The seven-time Olympic medalist — one of the most decorated gymnasts of all time — knows what she is talking about.
Photo: AP
Three months ago, on the other side of the world, Biles removed herself from competition in the middle of the team final at the Tokyo Games.
The 24-year-old did it for her own personal welfare while she battled what is known as “the twisties,” a phenomenon that did not allow her mind and body to get in sync enough to allow her to safely do what she has done as well as anyone in the history of her sport.
The decision further spurred a rapidly evolving discussion about the role that proper mental health plays — not just for athletes, but for everyone.
“It was very alarming [in the moment],” Biles recently told The Associated Press. “[My body] told me, like: ‘Hey, enough is enough, you got to go get help.’”
She did, and returned on the final day of the meet to earn a bronze medal on beam.
Biles went home not with a fistful of gold, but with something more valuable: a clean slate mentally.
Having a post-Olympic tour to lead also helped.
Biles never considered bailing. If anything, she needed the tour — which wrapped up a 32-city sprint on Sunday in Boston, Massachusetts — to help her and fellow Olympic teammates Jordan Chiles, MyKayla Skinner, Jade Carey and Grace McCallum (as well as world champions Chellsie Memmel and Morgan Hurd, among others) step out of the hyper-pressurized bubble of elite gymnastics.
“It’s kind of that break we needed, in the best sort of way,” Biles said.
The two-hour celebration of gymnastics, self-care and mental well-being seems aptly suited for an audience that has spent nearly two years grappling with the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic. The tour also shifted the focus around the sport back to the joy of simply doing it just to do it.
“I think we’ve definitely changed the outlook on gymnastics because it’s had a bad rep for a couple of years now,” Biles said. “So for kids and parents to come and see the show, they’re like: ‘You can still have fun.’ This is normal.”
One thing Biles has learned is that she is not tethered to gymnastics — the sport that she helped redefine is not to be the only thing that defines her.
So it is time to take a break — maybe a permanent one, maybe not. Either way, she is good.
“I know if I walked away from the sport, there are other things and different avenues out there,” Biles said. “For me, it’s just finding out what I really want to do.”
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