Simone Biles has become nearly as famous for the Olympic events she quit as the ones she won, and now she is doubling down, saying that walking away last year was her “biggest win” yet.
The renowned gymnast became the target of criticism after she dropped out of several events at the Tokyo Summer Olympic games in 2021. The 24-year-old gymnast said she skipped the events due to her “mental health.”
Biles competed in two events but bowed out of two events in Tokyo. Ultimately, she won the Silver in women’s team artistic gymnastics and the Bronze in the balance beam event. The medals gave Biles a total of seven Olympic medals, which tied her with gymnast Shannon Miller for all-time best U.S. gymnasts.
But since she walked away from some of the prestigious events last year, Biles has become the toast of the left for deferring to her “mental health” instead of achieving excellence in competition.
Simone Biles falls during the Tokyo Olympics (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
She later took aim at the critics and insisted that bowing out of the events does not make her a quitter.
“This Olympics doesn’t erase the past accomplishments I’ve achieved, nor does it define who I am as an athlete. I’ve pushed through so much the past couple years, the word quitter is not in my vocabulary,” she wrote on Instagram in September of last year.
Now, Biles is doubling down, if not tripling down, on that sentiment.
“Walking away from the Olympic Games was a win in itself,” Biles exclaimed during the 43rd annual Simmons Leadership Conference, according to People magazine.
“I know a lot of people thought I failed because they expected me to go out with five or six medals, but walking out of it was my biggest win,” Biles continued. “I had to put myself into consideration for one of the first times throughout my career. Most of the time, I’ve always put myself on the back burner, because I’ve always cared and thought about everybody else before myself.”
“I was like, ‘You know what? I have to do what’s best for me, what’s safe, and what’s healthy for me,'” she said, adding that her “mind and body were not in sync” and going ahead to compete would have been “selfish.”
“That would be so selfish of me to put the team’s medal contention in jeopardy, put myself in jeopardy,” Biles said. “I had to be like, ‘Simone, it’s okay. It’s not the end of the world, it’s just sports. If you walk away from this and you still are walking, that’s a win in your book.'”
She even said her decision to turn her back on the events she was signed up to play was “probably the most courageous” thing she has ever done.
“I had worked for five years and I didn’t want to let that dream go,” Biles explained. “I had to put myself first, listen to my mind and body, what my heart was telling me to do. I had to put my pride aside and say, ‘Okay, this isn’t going to work.'”
Biles also said that the COVID restrictions imposed on the Olympics also impacted her capacity to compete.
“We go over to Tokyo and no audience is allowed, we’re quarantined in our rooms, and can only come out for breakfast, lunch and dinner,” the 25-year-old gymnast added. “Everyone expected us to perform in a certain manner. There was no camaraderie, and my parents weren’t able to go there. My parents haven’t missed a competition in my life.”
She noted that trying to compete under COVID restrictions was “really strange for me mentally.”
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