An opinion columnist should have some self-awareness in life. When your job is to sit behind a laptop droning on about politics, for example, one should be very careful before casting aspersions on the mental and physical performance of one of the most decorated Olympians of all time.
Simone Biles, who transcended poverty and abuse to become in all likelihood the greatest gymnast ever, with 19 gold medals in World Championships, clearly has nothing to prove when it comes to mental toughness and physical excellence. You can’t hurl yourself head over heels, through the stratosphere, in front of millions of viewers, without both — never mind doing it better than anybody else.
So, if she thought she had to pull out of the all-round gymnastics final at the Tokyo Olympics, I am sure she did. It is a terrible shame, but such is life. I hope Ms Biles feels happier and healthier soon.
The sad fact is that commentators are less interested in Biles’s emotional health than in deploying it for political purposes
The problem is not her actions but the response to them.
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