Simone Biles Overcomes “Mental Issues” To Grab An Individual Medal

American artistic gymnast Simone Biles hogged the headlines in late July when she decided to pull out of the Women’s All Around Team Event after one apparatus as she felt she was under too much pressure to perform. Biles said that she had to protect her mental health as she was no longer enjoying performing at the Olympics.

Biles got a lot of flak on social media as thousands of Americans criticized her for being mentally weak and quitting when it mattered. She was also criticized by a number of prominent news broadcasters and sportstars such as Piers Morgan and former UFC middleweight champ Michael Bisping.

They accused Biles of being a poor example to American fans and other athletes as she took the easy way out by giving up.

They reminded her that she wasn’t just representing herself at the Olympics but the United States of America and told her that she should have pushed through her concerns over her mental health.

CBS News

Simone Biles did not quit, pack her bags and fly back to Tokyo. She stayed around her teammates and kept encouraging them at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre. USA Gymnastics released a statement and said that Biles was still considering taking part in the Olympics but her critics speculated whether she would be able to comeback at this games.

Biles Wins Bronze Medal

The 24 year old Biles did not let the criticism on social media get the better of her. She kept her spirits up and decided to come back on the final day of the artistic gymnastics and take part in the balance beam final. It took enormous courage from Biles to get out there and perform as she knew this time around the entire world was watching to see what she would do.

Biles did well in the event and ended up taking third place and winning a bronze medal. She would later go on to tell the media that she was “facing a lot of personal issues”, one of them being losing her aunt during the Olympics. She had to put all of that out of her mind and focus on the Olympics which was hard but she managed to do it in the end.

She also took to Instagram to put everything into perspective reminding she is a 7 time Olympic Medallist now .