The Hate on Simone Biles is Everything that is Wrong with Society
Biles’ candid talk about mental health is the inspiration we needed during these Olympic games
It is no surprise that Simone Biles is stealing headlines at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Arguably the Greatest of All Time, the four-time Olympic goal medallist and defending all-around gymnast was one of the faces of this year's Olympics game.
By Day 2 of the games, she rewrote the record books by being the first-ever gymnast to qualify for all six gymnastics medal events. Two days later, she shocked the world by doing something even more impressive — she pulled out of the team and all-around gymnastics competitions to focus on her mental health.
If you ask me, this is one of the most courageous and impressive things Biles has done to date — which is saying a lot considering she is the most dominant gymnast ever and practically performs the impossible every time she takes the stage.
Following the announcement, words of support came flooding in from many athletes and fans around the world.
Of course, the other half of the world immediately took this opportunity to pound in the hate messages. Social media comments flooded in, claiming that Biles “failed her country” and “acted selfishly.” They called Biles “weak” and “not a real athlete” for pulling out of the competition to focus on her mental health.
To everyone who has hated on her decision, I hope you know you are everything that is wrong with this world.
You are NOT entitled to her performances
I do not understand is why you all think you are entitled to Simone Biles’ routines. This is HER life. HER body. HER championships. HER medals at stake.
She is the one who has dedicated her entire life to training as a gymnast. She is the one who spends every waking minute at the gym. She is the one who puts blood, sweat, and tears into preparing every routine she puts on.
Simone Biles has dedicated her entire life so we can watch her perform the impossible on national TV, while we munch at potato chips on the couch.
We are lucky to watch her. Not entitled to it. She doesn’t owe any of us anything.
The only people who she might “owe” are her teammates and coaches (and even so, it’s her body at stake, not theirs). Yet every single one of them was nothing but supportive (see Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Grace McCallum) because they recognized that it was the right and courageous decision.
Dropping out of the team and all-around competitions was a difficult decision that I’m sure she didn’t want to make. But it was her decision to make.
Biles decided that HER mental health was more important than a piece of medal and her name in the history books. HER medal. And HER name.
So strangers on the internet, please tell me how you are losing out here. Why are you acting like she wronged you?
Don’t you DARE call your hate messages patriotism
I don’t even know what to say to anyone who is saying that Simone Biles has failed her country and team.
Can you please take a moment to think about what you are saying? Or are you too busy hiding in cowardice behind the pretense of a star-spangled banner?
Are you really calling your hate messages “patriotism?” Do you really think your country should value another tick mark in the medal count over someone’s livelihood and wellbeing? If you do, well quite frankly, that messed-up country and your “well-intentioned patriotism” deserve one another.
Simone Biles has already won 4 gold medals for the United States. The US gymnastics team you claim she “failed” won a Silver medal. If another medal is going to make or break your country, well… maybe you should stop hating and start training.
If she is failing her country, then how do we describe your contribution? I mean you’re already 5 medals behind her. So if you’re a real patriot, you better start working.
If anything, she made the world a better place
Another medal in the all-around competition is not going to change America. But you know what might? Normalizing mental health conversations.
20.6% of U.S. adults — or 51.5 million people — experienced mental illness in 2019. (Do you know how many people suffered from the US medal tally being lower than expected? I’m going to guess significantly less.) Yet we don’t talk about mental health. We don’t normalize mental health conversations, and we rarely consider it a real issue.
Simone Biles just told the world that mental health issues are real and just as important as physical health. More importantly, she made the topic less taboo by talking about it on a national stage.
I cannot begin to imagine how much of a positive impact Simone Biles’ decision might have on mental health acceptance. The greatest gymnast of all time was unable to compete on the biggest stage in the world because of mental health concerns. Pair this with Naiomi Osaka — one of the world’s top tennis players — also opening up about her battle with mental health concerns a few months back. Maybe this is the catalyst society needs to start believing that mental health is a real issue.
You want to talk about patriotism and making the world better? Then let’s talk about normalizing mental health conversations, rather than forcing injured people to compete for a piece of metal.
Let’s call this the opposite of weakness
I don’t understand how anyone can look at Simone Biles and say she is weak with a straight face. Maybe you’re blinded by her 4 Olympic gold medals and her 19 world championship gold medals or something.
Dear Brad, who is filling the comments about how “weak” Simone Biles is. Can you even do a somersault without going to the chiropractor the next day? Weren’t you just complaining about that tiring 3k morning jog? I guarantee every single one of Biles’ tumbling passes requires more physical exertion than any workout you’ve done in your life.
Do you know what is weak? Hiding behind your Facebook profile to send hate to someone with more athletic talent in their pinky finger than most of us have in our entire body.
Do you know what is strong? Showing vulnerability and being honest about such a taboo topic when the entire world is watching you.
Simone Biles did not take the easy way out. She could have cited her exit from the competition as a physical injury. If Biles dropped out due to a sprained ankle there would still be trolls who believe that they are more entitled to her performance than she is entitled to her own body. But no doubt there would be less hate.
Instead of hiding behind an “undisclosed medical issue”, Biles admitted that she was choosing to focus on her mental health. I am sure she knew this would open the floodgates to a bunch of haters who would claim she was weak. But this statement also opened the door to mental health conversation.
Simone Biles was strong enough to put herself on the chopping board so that we could normalize mental health conversations in gymnastics, competitive sports, and across the country.
Simone Biles is already a household name for her stellar accomplishments as a gymnast. Now she’s ready to inspire another way — by proving that mental health concerns do not equate to weakness.
How is that for a legacy?
