Why gymnast Simone Biles has transcended her sport

As far as Biles’s achievements go, perhaps those at the Tokyo Olympics have been her most impressive.

How does an athlete transcend their sport? Complete dominance in their field must be one factor. The other could be taking a stand for something and in doing so moving us forwards as a society. By withdrawing from several Olympic events this past week to protect her wellbeing, Simone Biles – the most decorated gymnast of all time – has done just that. After landing badly from a vault that went awry, Biles decided to bow out from the women’s team gymnastics final, cheering her teammates on from the sidelines instead. At the news conference that followed, she explained that she had pulled out for mental health reasons. We later learned she had a case of the “twisties” – a dangerous phenomenon experienced by gymnasts robbing them of all sense of direction during aerial feats. Given the complexity of the manoeuvres Biles executes, continuing under these circumstances could have been disastrous. Although the “twisties” are poorly understood, experts believe they may occur when gymnasts are stressed and overthink movements which are usually automatic, confusing the brain and throwing off their proprioception or sense of positional awareness.