(AP Photo/Ashley Landis) Ashley Landis/AP Simone Biles, of the United States, performs on the vault during the artistic gymnastics women's final at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, July 27, 2021, in Tokyo. “It took a long time to understand physical training, then it took a long time to understand proper nutrition and the psychological components to sports preparation, and how that can make you stronger, but now I think the mental health, it’s huge and it needs to be properly understood.” “It’s something that really needs to be properly understood,” Radcliffe said. The outpouring of support Biles received from everyone starting from her teammates and fellow athletes to the US Olympic Committee, commentators and fans showed that the conversation about mental health in elite sports is long overdue. While Osaka and Biles faced some criticism – mostly from people described by Radcliffe as “armchair warriors” – both were also praised for speaking up. Biles’ announcement came just a month after tennis star Naomi Osaka withdrew from the French Open citing mental health reasons. Yet there is some hope for things changing. Australian swimmer Ariarne Titmus, who has won two Olympic gold medals, said she has deleted every social media app on her phone to avoid “external pressure.” And Dutch cyclist Annemiek van Vleuten said she went off social media to preserve her mental state after her heartbreaking silver medal in the road race on Sunday. Several high-profile Olympians have spoken up about deleting their social media apps and accounts. “You couldn’t print something in a newspaper or online that people get away with putting there and yet the people that it hurts still see it.” She also suggested that tougher regulations on social media should be put into place. Paula Radcliffe looks dejected after she pulled out of the women's 10,000m event during the Athens 2004 Summer Olympics. “It can be so cruel and so heartless and harmful and particularly in this current situation where the athletes are kind of in a bubble, removed from the real world … then they start to think those comments are real and they hurt a lot more than if you were protected by all of your family and friends around you,” Radcliffe said, referring to an Olympics held during the Covid-19 pandemic. It got so bad that she and her husband and coach Gary Lough eventually left the country and went to Arizona to focus on training.įor Biles and her generation of elite athletes, however, escaping is nearly impossible because of social media. Reporters were hiding in bushes to watch her train and tried to trick her doctor into disclosing her private medical records. The British press hounded Radcliffe relentlessly in the aftermath of the Athens Olympics, scrutinizing her every move.
“I would argue that she’s actually even stronger mentally for being able to make that call now,” Radcliffe said of Biles. “Very few people actually understand the relationship between your mind and your body … particularly in something that’s really physically, or mentally – or both – taxing, you really need to know when to push through it and when to listen to your body, and it’s what has made her the great champion that she is,” she said. Our bodies just weren’t able to do it,” Radcliffe told CNN in a phone interview. The problem that Simone Biles just laid bare (Photo by Loic VENANCE / AFP) (Photo by LOIC VENANCE/AFP via Getty Images) Loic Venance/AFP/Getty Images TOPSHOT - USA's Simone Biles gestures during the artistic gymnastics women's team final during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre in Tokyo on July 27, 2021.
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