Whatever Happens Next, Simone Biles Will Stick the Landing
No one cares what I think about Simone Biles. But, I’m going to just do some self reflection like a true millennial: online, shouting into the void. At first, when I saw that Biles dropped out of the team competition for the US Women’s Gymnastics team, I was shocked.
Was she okay? Was she injured? What in the Kerri-Strug-fuck happened? From what I can see, a lot of other people had similar thoughts.
My initial “oh-shit”-shock quickly morphed into something more misanthropic.
Something more toxic.
I found myself kneejerkily concerned that Biles had quit and left her team hanging.
Here she was, the undisputed greatest gymnast of all time — and so confident that the crown belonged on her own head that she stitched that acronym-animal (GOAT) into the very fibers of her uniform — and she stopped competing, because why? Because of pressure? Because of expectations?
“Her body didn’t give up. Her mind did.” I thought to myself.
I hated that idea for a moment. But then I quickly had an epiphany that so many of you probably realized from the jump: her body? Her mind? Maybe I should stop looking to delineate between them.
For one thing, it’s legitimately none of my business what she decides to do. My casual, half-assed perusal of Gymnastics every 4 years amounts to about as much expertise as calling myself a chef because I ate a really great dish back in 2016.
For another, in order for me to make an effort to be a better sports fan and, in truth, a better human, I have got to stop separating the athletes’ bodies from the athletes’ minds. Those two things, be they hinderance or advantage, are more intricately connected than my layperson, dumbass Twitter brain can comprehend.
She didn’t give up on her teammates.
She chose not to give up on herself.
She did this by making an impossible choice. She did this by confirming on an international stage what I should have realized right away: this choice was far braver than any Yurchenko Double Pike could ever be.
She stepped aside, knowing full well what would happen and the criticism and ignorant vitriol she would likely endure. She did this, and now other future generations of athletes will remember: I can put my mental well being above a game, be they Olympic or otherwise.
She is the GOAT, stitching or not.
Crown or not.
Gold around her neck or not.
If for nothing else, then for the brief moment she caused people to acknowledge that the chemical changes in a human brain under intense and constant pressure — multiplied like a hall of mirrors by our nation’s continuous struggle with deeply ingrained racism and misogyny — can be deeply impacted by the resulting reactions that this can of strife can cause.
Simone Biles is 24-years-old. She has her whole life ahead of her. She has cleared the vault, and she will stick the landing.
Simone Biles has taken our breaths away. Again.
This time without even leaving the ground.
That is greatness by any definition.
