Andrew Bolt: Simone Biles has let fame go to her head

American gymnast Simone Biles shouldn’t be praised for quitting halfway through the Olympics team final for “mental health” reasons.

Simone Biles.

American gymnast superstar Simone Biles shouldn’t be praised for quitting halfway through the Olympics team final for “mental health” reasons. Even sympathy might be too much for someone who let fame go to her head.

Biles is often hailed as the world’s greatest-ever gymnast – not least by herself. Last month, the 24-year-old wore leotards at the US Gymnastics Championships all rhinestoned with an image of a goat to declare she was indeed Greatest Of All Time, to “hit back at the haters”.

Oh, and she wanted to send an improving message: “I want kids to learn that, yes, it’s okay to acknowledge that you’re good or even great at something.”

Pardon? I’ve always considered modesty not just nobler than boasting but safer, even for the great. In fact, especially for the great.

In the end, we all fail – and bragging too much leaves you more shocked, bruised and embarrassed when you fail, too.

As we used to say, when old wisdoms were still taught: pride comes before a fall. That, here, is literally true.

Simone Biles has won 25 world championship medals and four Olympic golds.

There haven’t been many falls for Biles, who has won 25 world championship medals and four Olympic golds, and she was the hottest of favourites to win the all-round title at Tokyo.

“Simone Biles Is Already the GOAT, but Her True Greatness Is Still to Come,” trumpeted Sports Illustrated.

But to her apparent shock,
Biles struggled in the qualifiers, and in the first round of the team final she failed to stick her landing in the vault, after completing just 1.5 of the 2.5 rotations. She had the lowest score of all six American and Russian competitors. She quit, sending the reserve in to replace her for the rest of the final. The US, expected to win, came second.

There was confusion at first about why she pulled out.

USA Gymnastics said it was “due to a medical issue”, but Biles later said “physically I feel good, I’m in shape”.

Her problem was in her mind: “It’s just me in my head. I have to focus on my mental health and not jeopardise my health and wellbeing. We have to protect our body and our mind.”

Did that mean protecting herself from the horror of being beaten? From not seeming – this time – as great as she’d boasted?

True, Biles may have made the right call for her team, if she was so rattled, to let a teammate with a clearer head take her place.

But she now had another public-service message, different from last month’s: “Put mental health first … It’s OK sometimes to sit out the big competitions to focus on yourself. It shows how strong a person and competitor you really are, rather than just battle through it.”

Actually, that’s not true, and I can’t join all the people now congratulating her – people like the head of the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee, who said: “Simone, you’ve made us so proud. Proud of who you are as a person, teammate and athlete … We applaud your decision to prioritise your mental wellness over all else.”

Simone Biles pulled out of an event citing her mental health.

Be clear: I don’t doubt Biles’ physical courage. She’s won national titles with a broken toe, and won world titles in agony from a kidney stone. To her fans, she’s been at her greatest when she didn’t quit, so cannot now be just as great when she does. I also sympathise with her struggle with the pressure of competition, so intense when there’s so much at stake – pride, fame, multimillion-dollar contracts. But the pressure is even greater when you’ve foolishly advertised your own greatness.

Nor should we complain about the pressure on her. Pressure is part of any competition. It’s often what separates champions from the rest. All-time greats such as Roger Federer stay cool when competitors with the talent to beat them choke.

If you don’t want pressure, don’t compete. Certainly don’t compete at the Olympics, against the best of the best, where intense pressure is what makes everything so epic.

Biles has handled such pressure for years, and triumphed. This time she didn’t and stumbled.

There is no shame in that.

Thousands of athletes in Tokyo will be tested, both physically and mentally, and fail, and I’m sorry for them all, Biles included. But as Biles would have better said last month: “I want kids to learn that, yes, it’s OK to acknowledge that you’re not quite as good or even great at something.”

Perfectly OK, if you’ve tried your best, and never quit.