“Simon Biles has allowed other athletes to finally express themselves about this malaise,” says Bixente Lizarazu

Every day, Bixente Lizarazu, football world champion in 98 and franceinfo consultant, gives us his analysis of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Gymnastics star, American Simone Biles, can, on Tuesday, July 30, win her first medal in Paris in the team event. She has come a long way. Simon Biles has an incredible story. She is one of the biggest stars of these Paris 2024 Olympic Games, considered the best gymnast of all time. She started at 16. A very precocious world champion, she became an Olympic champion in Rio with four gold medals and she is clearly in good shape at the Olympic Games in Paris. But she went through a very difficult period at the Tokyo Olympic Games where she suffered from twisties, an English term for a loss of orientation. A particularly problematic situation when you do gymnastics and somersaults in all directions. Behind, Simon Biles went on to suffer from a major depression. She talked about it, moreover more and more athletes are talking about their mental health.

It allowed other athletes to finally express themselves on this malaise. There is the cult of the hero, of the Terminator, of the invincible when you do high-level sport and so we tend not to talk about our doubts, our problems. The swimmer Michael Phelps the dwarf, the cyclist Mark Cavendish, the cyclist, or the tennis player Naomi Osaka, have spoken about these problems. It is really a current topic. We really have to make the difference between mental health and mental preparation. Mental preparation is specific to an event. It is about putting yourself in optimal conditions and in an event. Mental health follows you throughout your life, your career. When you want to be a high-level athlete, when you want to perform, you have to be happy in your life. These are subjects that must be addressed, for example with sports psychologists.

High-level athletes are human beings like any other. They want to classify us as gods and superheroes, but we are also victims of life issues, life disruptions, sometimes family problems. For Simone Biles, she was a victim of sexual abuse. We remember the huge affair that took place in the United States. There are many issues that can disturb an athlete. I say this to everyone, all athletes or all those who want to be high-level athletes, do not hesitate to talk about these problems to free yourself, to remove all these blockages.

I regret that there was no such system in my time because I am aware that it allows certain problems to be solved. We managed on our own. We did not complain. We did not want the coach to say “hey, he is going through a difficult period” or for one of his teammates to think that we were in a period of weakness. So we did not talk about it at all. Today, it is good that very, very high-level athletes talk about it. It is not a weakness, it is trying to build a much stronger mentality.