Simone Biles has been in the news lately after she decided to withdraw from the 2021 Olympics for the sake of her team and her mental health.
The gymnast has been under immense amount of pressure from fans all over the world to do exploit during the olympics, and she revealed that as time went on, she could no longer handle it. Also, a medical examination was carried out on the 24-year-old, and it concluded that the artist was not mentally ready to compete in Tokyo Japan.
Her decision to choose her mental health over what she could have won in the competition, sent an important message out to the world, to be aware of mental health issues, and take care of it immediately.
Let’s go back in time to when Biles’ journey began, and how she built her career from the group up. Keep scrolling below for more details.
Simone Biles: An Early Simple Life
Biles was born in Columbus, Ohio on March 14, 1997 to Shanon Biles, along with three other siblings. The kids went in and out of Foster care because Shanon could not take goof care of them.
However, when Shanon’s grandparents heard that their grandkids were living in foster homes, they opted to take them in, and that was the first time that Biles ever felt like she was with a real family. In 2003, the couple adopted Biles and her sister, while another family member adopted the remaining two siblings.
Through her adoptive mother, Biles was given Belizean citizenship, and practices Catholic religion, according to what her family does.
A Proud Gymnast
When Biles accompanied other kids on a field trip during her day-care days at age six, she practiced gymnastics for the very first time, and was shockingly good at it.
The day-care instructors suggested that the little one continues in that line as she seemed to be a natural, and that marked the beginning of Biles’ journey into the gymnastics world. She was enrolled into a training program at age eight, and trained under coach Aimee Boorman.
Although Biles continued with her school life alongside gymnastics, in 2012 she decided to opt for homeschooling, to increase her practice time from 20 to 32 hours weekly. At a young age, Biles developed herself mentally, physiologically, and professionally, as she needed to cultivate certain habits in order to become a great gymnast.
From 2012 till now, the sportswoman has shown strength, agility, dedication, and perseverance in the face of obstacles and opponents, and that’s why she is considered one of the greatest gymnasts in the world.
Simone Biles Was Counting On Going To The Olympics
Many refer to Biles as the ‘Greatest of All Time,’ however, she mentioned to The New Yorker during an interview in 2016 that she does not see herself as the best.
Nonetheless, she said that if she could go to the Olympics, she would definitely start seeing herself as the best. In that year, she won gold medals for her all-round routine, and was bronze for her floor and vault performance. She also won a gold medal as part of the United States team, and everyone was proud of her.
After the 2016 Olympics wrapped up, Biles revealed she would take time off to work on a book and compete on “Dancing With the Stars,” which she did. The following year, she was back to gymnastics, and worked more to achieve her goals.
She explained in an interview that 2020 was going to be a defining year in her career, as she has decided to retire from gymnastics after the 2020 Olympic Games. Sadly, the competition was postponed to 2021 due to the outbreak of COVID-19.
Did The Pandemic Add To Simone Biles’ Stress?
From the beginning, Biles had her career set in stone. When she worked out, she knew she could get a favorable outcomes, and when things did not go as planned, she worked harder again to fulfil her dreams. Like many athletes had done in the past, she made a pact to retire from the sports world after the Olympic competition in 2020, and the pandemic hit.
Speaking to Sports Illustrated recently the pro athlete said that she went through every phase of emotions which includes; anger, sadness, hysteria, and bitterness after it dawned on her that she would have to wait another year to retire.
She went on the tell the publication that it was the first time she ever felt all those emotions at one, and she wanted to be pissed. It is unclear at the moment if the gymnast will decide to retire now, but the one detail that is clear, is that Biles was never going to walk away from her career without a final statement.
Hopefully, she makes this statement in the next Olympic games.
