It is a lot of pressure being the face of a country.
Simone Biles simply couldn’t handle it anymore and dropped out to protect her mental health.
Simone Biles came to Tokyo as the star of the U.S. Olympic movement and perhaps the Games themselves. It all came to a stunning halt in the women’s gymnastics final on Tuesday night with an uncertain vault.
In a flash, the rest of the American star’s Games came into question. And the United States’ long run at the top of the sport came to an end.
Biles, Team U.S.A.’s star, said she pulled out of the event because she wasn’t in the right place mentally to perform the difficult and often dangerous skills she is known for, after feeling so much pressure to be successful. She had been struggling with the stress of being the greatest gymnast in history, she said, and outside expectations were just too hard to combat.
Before the event on Tuesday, she said she began “fighting all of those demons,” and couldn’t hold them back.
“At the end of the day, I have to do what was right for me,” she said, adding, “It just sucks that it happened at the Olympic Games.”
As you can imagine when this hit social media people had a lot of thoughts.
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