In a video shown during the Gold Over America tour’s intermission, Simone Biles offers advice to the mostly young female audience on how to cope with adversity.
“Rearrange, reset and you’ll be fine,” she said.
The seven-time Olympic medalist – one of the most decorated gymnasts of all time – knows what she is talking about.
Three months ago, halfway around the world, Biles withdrew from competition in the middle of the team competition final at the Tokyo Games. The 24-year-old did it for her personal well-being as she battled what is known as “figure loss”, a phenomenon that does not allow her head and body to synchronize. enough to allow her to do what she has done safely and better than anyone in the history of her sport.
His decision further opened a discussion about the role that good mental health plays not only for athletes, but for everyone.
“It was very alarming (at the time),” Biles recently told The Associated Press. (My body) said to me, “Hey, that’s enough, you need to go get help.” ”
She did and she returned on the last day of competition to win a bronze medal on beam. Biles returned home not with a fistful of gold like she did after her stunning performance in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, but with something more precious: a new mental attitude.
The post-Olympic tour also helped. Biles never considered questioning her. On the contrary, she needed this tour – which ended Sunday in Boston after a 32-city sprint – to help her and her Olympic teammates Jordan Chiles, MyKayla Skinner, Jade Carey and Grace McCallum (as well as the world champions Chellsie Memmel and Morgan Hurd, among others) to break out of the hyperpressurized bubble of elite gymnastics.
“It’s kind of that break that we needed,” Biles said.
The tour allowed Biles to reconnect with the energy of the crowd, which was lacking at the spectator-less Ariake Gymnastics Center in Tokyo.
When she initially announced the tour in fall 2019, she saw it as an alternative to the typical post-Olympic tour hosted by USA Gymnastics. She wanted something “completely different”.
This two-hour celebration of gymnastics, self-care and mental well-being seems well suited to an audience that has spent nearly two years grappling with the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic. The tour also shifted the focus away from the sport to the joy of doing it just for the sake of it.
“I think we’ve definitely changed the outlook on gymnastics because it has had a bad reputation for a few years now,” Biles continued. So for the kids and parents who come to see the show, they’re like, “You can still have fun.” It’s normal. ”
At the moment, the show is not quite over. The Gold Over America Tour will host a streaming event on December 4, a move Biles made in an effort to share his vision with those who couldn’t do it in person.
“At least we’ll have the opportunity to be able to be in their living room and feel that they’re there with us,” she added.