Simone Biles Shares What Could ’ ve Happened to Her at the Tokyo Olympics Had She Competed With ‘ the Twisties ’
The 24-year-old withdrew from several events at the Tokyo Olympics citing mental health concerns .
By Jay Connor Guest Columnist
With the Tokyo Olympics officially over , four-time Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles has spent her time crashing the Houston Texans ’ practices — her boyfriend , Jonathan Owens , plays for the team — and hopping on Twitter to explain just how scary her case of “ the twisties ” was in Tokyo .
As we previously explained at The Root , the “ twisties ” are a dangerous condition in which gymnasts “ lose their sense of space and dimension in midair .” As a result , the 24-year-old pulled out of several events in Tokyo before feeling comfortable enough to compete in the balance beam and earning the bronze medal in the process .
As the most decorated gymnast in history , her decision to withdraw during the Olympics sparked a much-needed discussion about mental health in professional sports . And perhaps eager to help better explain the challenges she faced while attempting to compete on the world ’ s biggest stage , Biles commented on a video of another gymnast suffering a scary fall to illustrate just how dangerous “ the twisties ” can be .
In the video , taken from the 2002 Junior European Championships , France ’ s Émilie Le Pennec crashes into the mat during her routine . Thankfully , she immediately returns to her feet , but the end result could ’ ve been catastrophic had she landed any differently .
“ Oh yeah this happened more times than I would ’ ve wanted in practice at the games ....” Biles tweeted . Previously , Biles took to her Instagram Stories to share personal footage of her own experience with “ the twisties ” to refute accusations that she quit on her team .
“ For anyone saying I quit ,” she wrote . “ I didn ’ t quit my mind & body are simply not in sync as you can see here . I don ’ t think you realize how dangerous this is on a hard / competition surface .” Thankfully , Biles chose her mental health and well-being over putting herself at risk of significant injury .