Olympic Athletes and Mental Health: Simone Biles’ Olympic withdrawal.

Tokyo 2020 Olympics games were particularly remarkable for many reasons. Not only were these games the first ever to be postponed since the first modern Olympics were held in 1896, (with the three other major disruptions caused by the First and Second World Wars forcing the games to be cancelled) but they also saw one of the most unexpected withdrawals in Olympic history.[1] The withdrawal of gold medal favourite US gymnast Simone Biles from the team and the all-round gymnastics finals shocked the world and shook the athletics community.[2]

The gravity of Biles’ withdrawal provides a lens into which the protection of the mental wellbeing of athletes by both the media and international federations can be interrogated. ‘Athletes For Hope’ is a non-profit charity started by a group of elite athletes such as Muhammed Ali and Tony Hawk that “aims to educate, encourage, and assist athletes in their efforts to engage with community and charitable causes, to increase public awareness of and support for those efforts, and to inspire others to do the same”.[3] One aspect that has grown significantly over recent years and has been noted by the charity is the mental health and wellbeing of athletes. Athletes For Hope shared a frightening statistic claiming up to 35% of elite athletes suffer a mental health crisis which can manifest as “stress, eating disorders, burnout, or depression and anxiety”.[4] This statistic, paired with the political tension that accompanied Biles’ withdrawal from multiple events at the Tokyo Olympic Games suggests that perhaps the protection of athlete’s mental health needs to be heightened and treated as more of a priority.

Headlines following Biles’ withdrawal demonstrate imbalance between the consideration of physical and mental health as the initial assumptions deemed that Biles may have sustained a physical injury. Headlines such as “the U.S. gymnast confirmed that she is not physically injured, but her status for the rest of the Olympics remains in doubt”[5] clearly display precedence of the physical status of athletes over their mental well-being.

Whilst receiving support for her decision by many, Biles also received huge backlash and criticism even to the extreme of being labelled a “selfish sociopath”, “weak” and a “shame to the country” by American activist and radio talk show host Charlie Kirk.[6] In his words about Biles, it is evident that Kirk’s opinion represents that of many that view athletes as being dutiful to their country over themselves. It appears that the protection of Biles’ mental health is not a satisfactory reason to withdraw to many with the opinion of Kirk, however we must consider what the reaction would have been if the suffering had been physical rather than mental. Headlines such as the one noted above are arguably reinforcing this bias that athletes are perhaps allowed to take precaution when physically injured, but mental health does not have the same consideration.

For many athletes, the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics took a huge toll interrupting rigorous 4-year training plans undertaken between Games. As well as the pressures of reaching peak fitness and skill for a Games scheduled later than originally planned and having to maintain fitness through various lockdowns within a pandemic, those with previous titles to their name had the added pressure and expectation of retaining Olympic titles despite the disruption in the lead up. As pointed out by US gymnast Katelyn Ohashi when speaking to BBC Radio 5 “Simone hasn’t lost a Games since 2013. She is in the eye of the public and she has millions of people following her”.[7] It is no wonder that Biles was struggling mentally during the games as she explained during an official Olympic interview “We’re all just a little bit stressed out, but we should be out here having fun and sometimes that’s not the case”.[8]

Being the most decorated gymnast of all time holds pressures within itself that are perhaps not considered when we see athletes on our screens winning medals during major events such as the Olympic Games. Biles, along with her fellow teammates, has also suffered years of abuse alongside her gymnastic career from team medic Larry Nassar who was sentenced to up to 175 years in prison in January 2018.[9] Just last week (15th September 2021) Biles, amongst 3 other victims of Nassar’s abuse, appeared at a Senate hearing to testify against Nassar demonstrating the length of the case and prolonging of any type of justice for Biles and her teammates.

For Biles, the pressures and trauma from the various aspects of her life amongst her suffering of abuse and ongoing case, her pressure to succeed for her country and the risk of injury that her sport inevitably holds, make it clear to understand and empathise with the mental battle Biles suffered from at the Tokyo Olympic Games. Despite these events, the mental wellbeing of athletes should be considered as standard, on the grounds that athletes are human and performing under pressure is extremely taxing, both physically and mentally.

The question that arises is at what point do we consider that our athletes are just as human as we are, and their success should never come at a cost to their mental health? When will the dialogue surrounding athletes both in the media and society change to prioritise and consider with precedence the protection of the mental health of athletes such as Simone Biles, and all athletes across the world? Simone’s statement: “I say put mental health first because if you don’t, then you’re not going to enjoy your sport and you’re not going to succeed as much as you want to”,[10] speaks volumes to the flaws enabling our athletes to feel unprotected, and this needs to change if we want to support their success and claim it within our countries.

References:

1. Schilken, C., 2020. Olympics history: Have the Games been postponed before?. [online] Los Angeles Times. Available at: <https://www.latimes.com/sports/olympics/story/2020-03-24/olympics-history-tokyo-games-postponed> [Accessed 17 September 2021].

USA Gymnastics, Twitter, 31 July 2021 https://twitter.com/USAGym/status/1421281778505973760 [Accessed 17 September 2021]

2. USA Gymnastics, Twitter, 28 July 2021 https://twitter.com/USAGym/status/1420266286441922562 [Accessed 17 September 2021]

USA Gymnastics, Twitter 27 July 2021 https://twitter.com/USAGym/status/1419992728352526339 [Accessed 17 September 2021]

3. Athletes for Hope. n.d. Mental Health and Athletes - Athletes for Hope. [online] Available at: <https://www.athletesforhope.org/2019/05/mental-health-and-athletes/> [Accessed 17 September 2021].

4. Apstein, S., 2021. Simone Biles Withdrew to Protect Her Mental Health, Avoid Injury. [online] Sports Illustrated. Available at: <https://www.si.com/olympics/2021/07/27/simone-biles-injury-tokyo-olympics-mental-health-withdrawal> [Accessed 17 September 2021].

5. Jason Campbell, Twitter, 27 July 2021

https://twitter.com/JasonSCampbell/status/1420122875323985920?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1420185879352471553%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es3_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsport%2F2021%2Fjul%2F28%2Fsimone-biles-withdrawal-olympics-gymnastics-tokyo-media-reaction / https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/jul/28/simone-biles-withdrawal-olympics-gymnastics-tokyo-media-reaction [Accessed 17 September 2021]

6. Murphy, D., 2018. Nassar sentenced to 40 to 175 years for abuse. [online] ESPN.com. Available at: <https://www.espn.com/olympics/gymnastics/story/_/id/22198997/larry-nassar-sentenced-40-175-years-prison-michigan-judge> [Accessed 17 September 2021].

7. KSDK News, “Simone Biles Speaks after withdrawing from gymnastics finals”. Youtube. 27 July 2021https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIS7HXBAdDU [Accessed 17 September 2021].

8. Finnis, A., 2021. Why Simone Biles pulled out of the women's team gymnastics event at Tokyo 2020. [online] inews.co.uk. Available at: <https://inews.co.uk/sport/olympics/simon-biles-why-pull-out-olympics-all-around-us-gymnast-what-happened-withdraw-1125217> [Accessed 17 September 2021].

9. KSDK News, “Simone Biles Speaks after withdrawing from gymnastics finals”. Youtube. 27 July 2021https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIS7HXBAdDU [Accessed 17 September 2021].

10. Images, Getty. 2020. “Simone Biles” (Blast) <https://theblast.com/125061/simone-biles-says-2021-olympic-appearance-not-set-in-stone-yet> [Accessed 17 September 2021].