By now, most of America has heard of Simone Biles’ decision to pull out of the team gymnastics competition in the Tokyo Olympics. She decided to remove herself from the competition because for “mental health” reasons. Its in quotes not because I am mocking her, I”m just quoting her reasons.  You can listen to it here. Up to that point she had had performed below her level of ability. She stepped out of bounds (?) during her routine.

There are two sides on this issue. On the one side we have the people who support her decision. They cite the constant pressure all USA gymnasts are under once they enter the program. The regimen of their training at training complex that they live at. Some say they are under constant mental and physical abuse. In addition to that, they point to the sexual abuse she suffered when being attended to by USA gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar. They call her strong and brave, and hope this will encourage other elite athletes to be able to do the same.

Note: what Nassar did was heinous and he should rot in jail. I actually wish he could be executed for his actions, but I may be an extremist in that matter. I have four daughters and I would be incensed if it happened to them.

The other side are those who called Miss Biles a quitter. She quit of her team and that mental health is not an excuse to quit now. She has been performing at a high level for more than eight years. She was the best gymnast in the United States if not the world. If all the abuse was such a toll on her why did it not bother her in the Rio Olympics?

My opinion is simple. She should’ve just withdrawn and said that her performance up to that point was going to hurt her team’s chance to win a medal. If I remember correctly the gymnasts are not judged on against each other but on how good they are individually. It’s essentially a weighted scale. She should have just withdrawn without an any explanation beyond her performance. In a sense, I agree with the latter side: why didn’t this affect her when competed before? She knows the pressure of the Olympic stage so why is it affecting her mental state now?

Simone Biles should have just withdrawn, said she didn’t want her subpar scores to prevent her teammates from winning a medal and left it at that. Claiming that it was mental health issue was a selfish move because it focused the attention on her and not her teammates.