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No, Simone Biles’ Withdrawal Is Not The Same As You Quitting A Powerpoint Presentation
Has the Olympics become a mental health minefield?
Simone Biles — a 24-year-old American gymnast with four moves named after her, an athlete reared in a gymnastics training environment steeped in sexual abuse and convictions, an athlete whose moves are scored controversially by the International Gymnastics Federation, a daughter who as a child had to overcome food insecurity before entering the foster care system, an athlete whose name plus the word GOAT yields 10.9 million search results on Google — withdrew mid-competition from the Olympics team gymnastics final this week, citing her mental health.
People have opinions about it. And some of these opinions are, frankly, a mood.
You and I can’t possibly understand what the Olympic athletes in Tokyo are going through.
Let’s visually refresh on what we have come to expect as par for the course for Biles. Here is a GIF of her dismounting from the balance beam, which is four inches in width:
