Simone Biles, the most successful gymnast in history, admitted after mental problems at the Olympic Games that she should have finished the sport long before them.
The scandal of former girls ‘doctor Larry Nassar with the sexual abuse of girls affected Simone Biles’ mental health so much that she gave up most of her competitions during the Tokyo Olympics. At the previous Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, she won four gold.
“I should have left it long before Tokyo. If you look at everything I’ve been through in the last seven years, I should never have been on the Olympic team again,” the 24-year-old American told New York Magazine.
More than 150 women testified against Nassar, and Biles admitted almost four years ago that she was one of his victims. Nassar was convicted of sexual crimes in 2018 and will spend the rest of his life behind bars.
“It was too much. But I didn’t want him to take anything I had been working hard on since I was six,” Biles said. “I tried to push it out as long as my mind and body allowed,” added the stellar gymnast and owner of a record 19 world titles.
At the Tokyo Games, she also admitted that she has problems with air orientation in the elements. She therefore withdrew from the team competition, in which the American team won silver. Subsequently, she withdrew from the finals of the all-around and on three instruments and returned to the balance beam and won bronze, the seventh Olympic medal.
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