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Caroline Nalumansi

Professor Tabitha Clark

First Year Writing

17 February 2022

Simone Biles: The G.O.A.T.

Olympic gymnast Simone Biles salutes to the judges as she prepares to compete in the 2021 U.S

Classic Gymnastics Competition in Indianapolis (Chinn).

Today is May 21, 2021, and it is the day of the 2021 U.S. Classic Gymnastics

Competition in Indianapolis. In the midst of the competition, a short black girl salutes to the

judges and steps on to the floor in a pose, waiting for her competition music to start. A few

moments later, she begins her choreography with a smile on her face, and dances her way to the
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corner of the floor to set up for a tumbling pass. Once she runs halfway across the platform, she

performs a roundoff back handspring leading into a triple twisting double somersault (Simone).

She then twists and turns her body at an extreme height before landing on her feet again. In her

third and final tumbling pass of her choreography, she launches herself into the air, twisting and

turning once again, and completes her floor routine nearly flawlessly. After saluting and smiling

to the judges, Simone Biles walks off the mat, catches her breath, and calmly heads on over to

vault, her next event.

Born on March 14, 1997, in Columbus, Ohio, Simone Biles began her gymnastics career

at age 6, and started competing when she was 14. The now 24-year-old has won a magnitude of

awards. She is “the first woman to win three consecutive all-around titles in World Gymnastics

Championships history,” and earned 32 Olympic and World Championship medals, making her

one of the most decorated American gymnasts in history (Ferrero). Not only has Biles

accumulated a hefty amount of medals and titles, but she has also garnered the world’s attention

over the years. Biles has spoken in a multitude of interviews, guest starred in various talk shows,

and was even named one of the most influential people in the world by Time Magazine in 2017

(Ferrero). With two gymnastics skills named after her, it is safe to say that the world’s nickname

for her, the G.O.A.T. (Greatest of All Time), is a fitting one. Despite her caliber in gymnastics,

one thing Simone struggled with is her mental health.

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Simone Biles in her leotard with a rhinestone goat figure on the back at the Tokyo Games

(Leiker).

Olympians tend to make their sport look so easy as they compete in their categories.

Female athletes in the gymnastics competitions perform and are rewarded with such high scores

for displaying gracefulness although it requires such immense strength built up through endless

hours of training. In an interview with Ellen DeGeneres, Simone Biles mentions that “the elite

gymnast trains about 32 hours a week, (six days a week)” (Frazier). For the floor portion of the

competition, the gymnasts’ routines “can’t exceed 90 seconds” (Richards). Ultimately, these

competitors have around two minutes per category to show the judges what they have been

practicing almost every day. However, for that short career-defining moment Olympians wait

their entire lives for, many of these women set their mental health aside in order to achieve their

goals. Even though some of the major figures in their lives such as coaches and trainers are

aware of the silent struggle, some of these girls end up getting taken advantage of by their

superiors. Unfortunately, Simone Biles is one of these girls.

On January 15, 2018, Biles took to Twitter to reveal her story writing “I too am one of

the many survivors that was sexually abused by Larry Nassar,” who was the doctor for the USA

gymnastics team (@Simone_Biles).

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Before she opened up about her experiences with sexual abuse, the public painted Biles

one of the best athletes who seemed to have a one-track mind set to becoming the best gymnast

in the world. In her 2018 Twitter statement regarding her sexual abuse, she also explained how

she will not let this trauma get the best of her gymnastics career by writing “…I promise all of

you that I will never give up…I have never been a quitter. I won’t let one man, and the others

that enabled him, to steal my love and joy” (@Simone_Biles).

In 2006, Tarana Burke, a feminist from New York, created the hashtag “MeToo” in order

to “empower women who had endured sexual violence by letting them know that they were not

alone–that other women had suffered the same experience they had” (Gordon). Years later in

2017, an actress named Alyssa Milano revived the movement after learning about Harvey

Weinstein’s sexual harassment towards women, and soon millions of others took to social media

using the hashtag to share their thoughts as well as their personal stories of sexual violence

(Gordon).

A few years after identifying as a “#MeToo” victim, Simone Biles was signed up to

compete for the U.S. Gymnastics Team in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, which were postponed to

the 2021. However, after the start of the competition, Biles decided against competing in the

“individual all-around competition [by] withdrawing from the team finals because of a mental

health issue” (Macur). Whether she was still recovering from her traumatic experience with team

doctor Larry Nassar or was feeling mentally overwhelmed by pressure she and the world puts on

herself, Simone Biles finally put herself first before gymnastics. While some critics described her

decision as giving up or the easy way out, Biles was also met with lots of support from notorious

figures such as Olympians Michael Phelps and Nastia Liukin. Even Justin Bieber took to
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Instagram verbalize is support by writing “’nobody will ever understand the pressures you

face!...sometimes our no’s are more powerful than our yes’s’” (Donohue).

Simone Biles walks toward the vault at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, which was the last event she

competed in before withdrawing (Macur).

Biles is not the first major athlete to take a step back from their passion due to mental and

physical health issues. Another well-known athlete who opened up about her struggles is Gracie

Gold, who is an Olympic figure skater. Gold missed the 2018 Olympics because she was

receiving treatment for anxiety, depression, and an eating disorder (Bjornson). Although Simone

Biles is not responsible for beginning the conversation around the mental health of high caliber

athletes, her decision to value her mental health over another Olympic medal definitely revived

the conversation and inspired other athletes to do the same.

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Works Cited

Bjornson, Greta. “Skater Gracie Gold 'Overwhelmed' After Emotional Routine Returning from

Depression Struggles.” People, Meredith Corporation, 7 January 2022,

https://people.com/sports/olympic-figure-skater-gracie-gold-emotional-routine-returning-

from-depression-struggles/. Accessed 5 March 2022.

Chinn, Emilee. “Gymnastics’ scoring system may not fully value the vault Simone Biles pulled off

Saturday 2021.” The New York Times, The New York Times Company, 24 May 2021,

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/24/sports/olympics/simone-biles-yurchenko-double-

pike.html. Accessed 16 February 2022.

Donohue, Meg. “Simone Biles Responds to Support After Withdrawing from Olympic Events to

Prioritize Mental Health.” Town and Country, Hearst Magazine Media, 29 July 2021,

https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/sporting/a37169149/simone-biles-

response-withdrawing-olympics-competition/#:~:text=Simone%20Biles%20Responds

%20to%20Support,believed%20before%2C%E2%80%9D%20she%20wrote. Accessed 5

March 2022.

Ferrero, Kelly, and Janey Miller. Simone Biles, 2022, https://simonebiles.com/about/.

Frazier, Andrea. “How Many Days A Week Does Simone Biles Train? She Puts In The Time.”

Romper, BDG Media, 11 August 2016, https://www.romper.com/p/how-many-days-a-

week-does-simone-biles-train-she-puts-in-the-time-16236.
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Gordon, Sherri. “What Is the #MeToo Movement.” Verywell Mind, Dotdash Media, 2 July 2020,

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-metoo-movement-4774817#toc-history-

behind-the-movement.

Leiker, Emily. “Simone Biles at the Olympics: Everything to know about Team USA star at

Tokyo Games.” USA Today, USA Today, 21 July 2021,

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2021/07/21/get-know-simone-biles-

olympics-stars-schedule-age-medal-count/8002480002/. Accessed 6 March 2022.

Macur, Juliet. “Simone Biles is withdrawing from the Olympic all-around gymnastics

competition.” The New York Times, The New York Times Company, 28 July 2021.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/28/sports/olympics/simone-biles-

out.html#:~:text=Simone%20Biles%2C%20the%20four%2Dtime,emailed%20statement

%20from%20U.S.A.%20Gymnastics. Accessed 4 March 2022.

Richards, Kimberly. “How Long Do Gymnastics Routines Need To Be? They’re Certainly

Impressive.” Romper, BDG Media, 1 August 2016, https://www.romper.com/p/how-long-

do-gymnastics-routines-need-to-be-theyre-certainly-impressive-15497#:~:text=According

%20to%20NBC's%20Olympics%20coverage,to%2090%20seconds%2C%20NBC

%20reported.

“Simone Biles Debuts Historic New Move and Wins First Competition of 2021.” YouTube,

uploaded by NBC Sports, 22 May 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=jfNMvlVJdNE.
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@Simone_Biles. “Feelings... #MeToo.” Twitter, 15 Jan. 2018, 4:22 p.m.,

https://twitter.com/simone_biles/status/953014513837715457?lang=en.