Simone Biles, the greatest gymnast of all time, ended her Olympics with a bronze medal – but after a week in Tokyo it felt like a victory.
The four-time Olympic champion pulled out of the team final due to mental health concerns then also withdrew from the all-around, floor and uneven bars,
But her bronze in the beam today tied her with Shannon Miller for the most by a US gymnast at the Olympics on seven.
“It wasn’t easy pulling out of all those competitions,” Biles said after clinching bronze. “People just thought it was easy,
But I physically and mentally was not in the right head space and I didn’t want to jeopardize my health and my safety because at the end of the day, it’s not worth it.
Biles added that she is grateful to have had the opportunity to bring the topic of mental health to the fore.
“I think it should be talked about a lot more, especially with athletes, because I know some of us are going through the same things and we’re always told to push through it,” she said. “But we’re all a little bit older now and we can kind of speak for ourselves.
At the end of the day, we’re not just entertainment, we’re humans and there are things going on behind the scenes that we’re also trying to juggle with as well on top of sports.”
