This astonishing athlete’s greatest triumph may be to make us confront the mental demands our culture puts on athletes
Simone Biles has given us many groundbreaking performances. This week she has pushed the boundaries of sport once more. Not by expanding her already extraordinary technical expertise as a gymnast but by challenging the persistent, macho narrative around what Olympic success and sporting strength should look like.
Biles follows tennis players Naomi Osaka at the French Open and Emma Raducanu at Wimbledon, who are unafraid to speak up in the global spotlight and place mental heath on the same level as physical health. Sadly, all have had their integrity, sporting prowess and character questioned. Michael Phelps revealed the extraordinary pressures and mental health struggles that he faced in a recent documentary called The Weight of Gold: the title says it all. Amid the stacks of gold medals and trophies, it’s hard to dismiss Phelps, Osaka or Biles as “weak losers” (unless you’re a certain brand of tabloid commentator). That means we have to think again. Surely we have had enough warning shots to realise the scale of the mental health crisis in sport – one that is also a mirror for wider society. It’s going to take more than a few extra wellbeing advisers to address the issue.
