At the 2021 Olympic Games gymnast Simone Biles, one of the greatest and most dominant gymnasts of all times (multiple world & Olympic world champion) stated on Instagram that she was “[feeling] the weight of the world on [her] shoulders” and that she felt affected by the pressure of the Olympics.
Biles withdrew from the rest of the team competition, citing mental health issues and explaining that she was inspired by fellow female Olympian Naomi Osaka, who had withdrawn from the Wimbledon competition that year for similar reasons. The USA team went on to win the silver medal behind the Russian athletes.
On July 28, 2021, Biles withdrew from the finals of the individual all-around competition, again citing mental health concerns. Biles said that she experienced “the twisties”, a psychological phenomenon causing a gymnast to lose air awareness while performing twisting elements.
Her decision created varied response from sports fans ranging from full on support at how strong she is to favor mental health over glory, all the way to huge backlash.
BJJ No Gi world champion and ADCC worlds bronze medalist Josh Hinger felt obliged to give his opinion. Hinger compared his own past competing in High School Wrestling and the dangers of pushing yourself to dangerous levels for your health. He supports Simone Biles’ decision.
Unlike Gordon Ryan’s point of view:
Gordon Ryan: ‘Gymnast Simone Biles Quitting Olympics is a Symbol of How Soft America Has Become’
Hinger stated:
“When I was wrestling during my senior year of high school, I was cutting 14-15lbs a week to make weight for the duel meets on Thursday, and maintaining the cut for the weekend tournaments on Saturday. Then Saturday night and Sunday I would binge eat and rehydrate just to begin the process all over again on Monday morning. It was 1999-2000, and I had no idea how to cut weight strategically. I had no guidance or professional help.
The coaches had to turn a blind eye to protect themselves from liability. After I won the regional CIF tournament, I was trying to cut weight for the Masters tournament, and then hopefully again for the state tournament. After 10 weeks of cutting twice a week, every week, my body just stopped responding to the dehydration process that I had been using all season. I would pretty much just deprive my body of food and water for 3-4 days while doing excessive amounts of training and cardio. I was one of the best wrestlers on the team and expectations were high. 2-3 days before the masters tournament, I was hammering extra cardio sessions on the bike in multiple layers of sweats and I wasn’t losing any weight. Still 8lbs over, the sweat just wasn’t coming out of me the way it would earlier in the season.
I didn’t feel right and I didn’t want to become a dead wrestler news headline. So I quit. I decided not to go to the Masters tournament. The backlash was pretty brutal. I was publicly berated by my coach. I was mocked and shunned by most of my teammates. Everyone called me a quitter, a disappointment, and they told me I’d regret this decision the rest of my life. But guess what… I don’t regret it one damn bit. To this day, I believe that I saved my own life with that decision. And here I am today, still alive, still healthy, and still wrestling everyday. I’m with @simonebiles on this one. She doesn’t owe anyone shit. I’m well aware that high school wrestling isn’t remotely comparable to the Olympics, but I fully understand that she did what’s best for her, just like the rest of us all do what’s best for ourselves each and everyday.”
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Joe Rogan addressing the situation:
