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Simone Biles said her decision to withdraw from several Olympics events to focus on her mental health would likely be one of her “greatest accomplishments.”
Biles reflected on his experience in Tokyo during a Zoom call on Saturday with President Joe Biden, First Lady Jill Biden and other athletes from the U.S. team.
“The Olympics weren’t as I expected, but putting my mental and physical health first will probably be one of my biggest accomplishments,” Biles said.
Speaking from his Delaware, the president congratulated the Olympic athletes on their performance. He also thanked them for representing the United States at the Summer Games, saying they made him and the country proud.
“When you get hit by an opponent on the right track and stop and come back and get him and walk to the finish line with him, come on. That’s what America is meant to be,” he said. Biden said referring to the moment when US runner Isaiah Jewett and Botswana’s Nijel Amos fell in the 800-meter race, then helped each other out and ran together to the finish line.
“You have stood for everything we stand for,” Biden added. “You really did.”
The president also specifically called out swimmer Katie Ledecky and Biles for their courage under so much “psychological pressure.”
Jewett and Biles then shared their thoughts on the difficult times they faced during the competition.
“At the end of the day, we’re all people and we’re all going through the same nervousness and we’re all going through the same pain, so we might as well finish what we started,” Jewett said.
Biles, who started midway through the gymnastics team final and retired from the all-around to focus on her mental health, said that early in her career she would likely have been “too stubborn “to take a step back. The 24-year-old added that she was proud of the way her teammates handled her retirement in the team final.
“Getting more talk about mental health in sport is really good because at the end of the day we are humans before athletes,” she said.
After missing several events, Biles – the most decorated gymnast in the world – returned to competition on Tuesday for the beam final and won the bronze medal.
Biden said the choice to prioritize his sanity on the world’s biggest stage was an important example for so many people – not just athletes.
“And guess what? You got back on that damn beam,” the president said before joking about his own athleticism. “I’ll tell you, flip on a 4 inch beam, it’s my idea to go to purgatory. I would try almost anything else before trying that.”
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