Simone Biles won nationals w/broken toes in both feet, worlds w/a kidney stone, and has carried the burden of being a face of sexual assault survivors as a national institution failed to support them
Half of y'all yelling about "toughness" can't handle wearing a mask in Wegman's
— Kavitha A. Davidson (@kavithadavidson) July 27, 2021
Statement from USA Gymnastics: "Simone has withdrawn from the team final competition due to a medical issue. She will be assessed daily to determine medical clearance for future competitions."
— Barry Svrluga (@barrysvrluga) July 27, 2021
There’s a cost to greatness, and it’s crippling our athletes. On Tuesday night in Tokyo, and Simone Biles’s jarring decision. https://t.co/nYAJgTG1D1
— Barry Svrluga (@barrysvrluga) July 27, 2021
Here’s the problem with establishing yourself as the best at your chosen profession — the best mechanic, the best cheesemaker, the best accountant, the best gymnast: Maintaining that standard over weeks and months and years takes its toll, even if we can’t see it. The customers, the public, know only that standard, and the job is to continue to deliver, full stop. That is a burden, regardless of the trade. At the wrong time, it can become crippling.
So here was Simone Biles, unquestionably the greatest gymnast on the planet, crippled — on the stage she owns, performing the tasks she had trained a lifetime to pull off, in the moment that mattered. Her job was to lead the U.S. women’s gymnastics team to another gold medal, this one at the Tokyo Olympics. When it came time to do that, the best to ever do what she does decided she was more hindrance than help. She stepped aside, pulled on a white sweatsuit and cheered on her teammates — to silver, not gold.
“It’s been really stressful this Olympic Games,” Biles said afterward. “Just as a whole, not having an audience. There are a lot of different variables going into it. It’s been a long week. It’s been a long Olympic process. It’s been a long year. Just a lot of different variables, and I think we’re just a little bit too stressed out. But we should be out here having fun, and sometimes that’s not the case.”…
“I usually persevere and push through things,” Biles said. “But not to cost the team a medal.”
She did not say what her plans were moving forward in Tokyo. The individual all-around final is Thursday, followed by finals for the vault, floor exercise, uneven bars and balance beam in the week ahead. Biles has qualified for all of them…
Tokyo 2020 Open Thread: Simone Biles, Still the GOATPost + Comments (52)