There are always wonderful, inspiring stories coming out of the Olympic Games. One of the best from the first week of competition in Paris is that of Simone Biles.
Three years ago, the already much-decorated American gymnast was expected to dominate at the Tokyo Olympics, only to pull out from most of the competition because of a mental health condition that left her mind and body dangerously out of sync.
She used that disappointment — and some of the criticism she received for not toughing it out — to try to better educate the public about the toll that pressure-filled competitions can take on an athlete’s mental health.
In now her third time on the Olympic stage, Biles has been as amazing as ever, leading the U.S. team to reclaim the gold medal it lost in 2021 and winning the women’s individual overall title. More medals are still possible, cementing her place as the greatest American gymnast of all time and arguably the best the world has ever seen.
Biles’ ups — and her downs — are reassuring to anyone who learns in sports and elsewhere how impossible it is to always be on top of your game.
