A day after six-time Olympic medalist Simone Biles removed herself from the team final, the American gymnastics superstar withdrew from all-around competition to focus on her mental well-being.
USA Gymnastics said Biles will be evaluated
daily before deciding if she will participate in next week’s individual events.
In
Tokyo, Biles qualified for the finals on all four apparatuses, something she
didn’t even do during her five-medal haul in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
Keith
Parry, deputy head of department of Sport & Events Management at
Bournemouth University, points out that “some of these athletes are under
immense pressure … but during the current pandemic it’s gotten even
worse.”
Parry
describe the incredibly harsh conditions that pushed a number of Olympic
athletes to completely withdraw from the competition.
“They’ve
got no support there,” he said.
“There’s
no friends, no family. It’s been described as the strictest, most restricted
sporting event ever, and that was by the head of the IOC.”
Parry
does expect Simone Biles to return to the world stage, as will other Olympians
who had to bow out due to these “unprecedented times.”
Looking
ahead, Parry is noticing a “shift in society and in sport that means that
we are not going to ostracize an athlete for speaking up or even for
protesting”.
Moving
forward, he envisions better conditions in the sports world.
“We’re
(already) starting to see it being much more acceptable to discuss mental
health and the problems that were having, or for athletes around the world to
speak up when we’ve been faced with discrimination or abuse,” he said.
Parry
would like to remind us that “this is not just a sport issue, it’s a wider
societal issue.”
Athletes
are, first and foremost, human beings, and they are in a privileged position to
raise awareness and foster change.
“The pressure we’re putting on athletes, celebrities, and the discrimination that people are faced with, is broad and is part of society unfortunately.” – France24