Simone Biles has, by the age of just 24, achieved more than many of us could hope to in our entire time on the planet. Already the most decorated gymnast in history, she has 25 titles to her name and earned international acclaim for being the first female athlete to cleanly land a triple-double. And all of this before the age of 25? It is nothing short of tremendous.
And so as the world watched on this week as she arrived in Tokyo tipped to sweep up a load more golds both with and for the US team, it’s safe to say the pressure she was facing was much more than most of us experience on a tough day at the office. So when news broke that Biles had dropped out of the gymnastics team event for health reasons, many people who love to watch her perform were understandably disappointed. But should they be surprised? Should they be critical? Or even worse — outraged…. Like Piers Morgan, for instance, who felt the need to dedicate 2180 words (yes really) in his column for the Daily Mailto the subject? Not even slightly.
And though it may be easy to dismiss Morgan — who has shown himself time and time again to be incapable of accepting even the slightest criticism (remember when he stormed off the GMB set after his colleague questioned him over his mistreatment of Meghan Markle?) despite, ironically, claiming to be a champion of free speech — these attacks on Biles matter, because they say a lot about the stigma that still surrounds mental health issues.
First and foremost, as a champion of personal freedom, I would expect Morgan to understand an individual’s right to act in their own best interest rather than caving to public pressure. Far from being a purely selfish move, Biles herself shared in the post-competition press conference that it had been a “really stressful Olympics,” before explaining that she had made the decision in order to prioritise her own wellbeing as well as the competitive chances of her teammates (who, for what it’s worth, still won Silver).
It’s easy to be an armchair critic, isn’t it? Easy to sit on your sofa and tell people how to live their lives or what should be important to them. The thing is though — life isn’t that simple. Mental health certainly isn’t that simple.
Aside from the pressure of growing up in the glare of the international spotlight, and all of her professional accolades — of which there have been many — Biles has overcome a difficult childhood that saw her and her siblings taken into care when her mother was unable to feed them, and then later adopted and raised by her grandparents. It isn’t an understatement to say that aside from a very fortunate few, many people carry trauma of difficult childhoods with them for the rest of their lives, and while I have no idea what Biles’s relationships are like with her family, trauma of any kind at a young age can severely impact your emotional resilience.
Alongside this, in 2018, Biles bravely spoke out about sexual abuse she says she suffered as a minor at the hands of a now-convicted former USA gymnastics doctor, Larry Nasser. In an episode of her Facebook Watch docuseries, Simone vs Herself, earlier this year, Biles spoke candidly of the impact the abuse had on her mental health.
“I slept all the time and it’s because sleeping was basically better than [killing] myself,” she said. “It was like my way to escape reality, and sleeping was like the closest thing to death for me at that point. So I just slept all the time.”
Biles herself has shared that she is not in a good place emotionally: “physically, I feel good, I'm in shape,” she told the press. 'Emotionally, that kind of varies on the time and moment. Coming to the Olympics and being head star isn't an easy feat.”
Unless you’ve been through a highly traumatic experience yourself — like sexual abuse when you were underage by a trusted colleague — then you’re unlikely to understand how the healing process works. For one thing, recovery isn’t linear, and often hits you at different times — often without warning. It is an experience common to trauma survivors to doubt yourself, your abilities or even your value — even in contexts where you previously may never have had cause to do so. Situations of extreme stress can often magnify complicated emotions, and as we age and gain new understanding about our experiences, this can cause unresolved feelings to resurface with more vigour. In short, Biles has been through some pretty tough stuff in her 24 years, and if she’s struggling under the weight of it all, learning to prioritise her own mental wellbeing is one of the greatest things she can do — and it gives her the best possible chance at healing and coming back stronger in the future, which she undoubtedly will.
On top of all of this, the pressure that Biles may feel as a young black woman who is often called upon as a spokesperson for BLM, as well as the intense emotional rollercoaster we’ve all been on over the past year living during a pandemic will have both taken its toll.
Ultimately, none of this really matters because even without it the point remains that any person, at any time has the right to act to protect their own mental health, despite what any social media commentators who seem to enjoy denigrating young women of colour might say. As women in particular we are so often taught to put others’ needs ahead of our own, which can be disastrous for mental health over a long period of time. To see a young person who has overcome so much being able to stand up and ask for what she needs in order to feel well — and especially on such a public stage — is nothing short of inspirational. People like Morgan could learn a lot from her example, instead of taking out all of their unresolved anger on innocent bystanders.
For all the progress we have made as a society when it comes to mental health, if we can’t respond with compassion to someone who has clearly experienced a lot in her young life, then it’s clear we have a long, long way to go. As for Biles, I look forward to seeing her return to the mat one day in the not-so-distant future when she feels better — and proving to the world that resilience and strength come not from forcing yourself blindly through difficulty for the sake of others but from knowing your own limits and listening to your body and your mind when they tell you to rest.