Renowned American gymnast Simone Biles has a combined total of more than 30 Olympic and world championship medals, not to mention several world records. But there’s more to her than that, she said during a plenary session at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) virtual meeting.
“I’m a person at the end of the day and people respect that and understand that,” she said, noting that the positive support she received during the Japan summer games when she cited mental health concerns, and withdrew from several events, “made me feel whole as a person and an athlete.”
In her AAP keynote talk with AAP president Lee Savio Beers, MD, 24 year-old Biles explained that “Growing up, we’re told ‘Push through, Push through,’ but I knew at that point [during the 2020 Tokyo games, held in 2021], I really couldn’t…my safety and my health were on the line.”
She also acknowledged that “I honestly expected a lot more backlash than what I got [for withdrawing]. What I got was an overwhelming outpouring of support and love and understanding. That’s something I never expected…so that was quite a twist for me.”
Injury, overtraining, and pressure in competitive athletes can take a toll on athletes’ mental health, research has shown. Biles is among a number of high-profile athletes who have been outspoken about supporting the mental health of athletes. She has adopted a platform “to help advocate for mental health and support initiatives that provide education and assistance for children and young adults associated with adoption and foster care,” according to AAP News. Biles and her siblings were in and out of foster care before being adopted by their grandparents.
Biles also talked about Larry Nassar, DO, the former team doctor of the US women’s national gymnastics team who was jailed for sexual abuse and child pornography, and tampering with evidence.
In testimony before Congress in September, Biles said, “I blame Larry Nassar, and I also blame an entire system that enabled and perpetrated his abuse.” The gymnast singled out the FBI which she said “turned a blind eye” as Nassar molested young female patients, according to the Washington Post.
Biles offered this advice on how paediatricians can help abuse cases: “If you see something, speak up no matter what the consequences are because not only could you be helping that individual, but you could be helping multiple individuals too.”
Biles hopes more youth athletic programs will educate young children on spotting and reporting abuses. “From a very young age, a lot of us are thrown into these sports and we don’t know what’s right or wrong, unless somebody sits down and tells us, or we have adults looking after us, so I think handbooks can be a really good thing.”
Biles told the AAP audience that, before she became a gymnast, she wanted to be a paediatric nurse like her mother. “After making five World and two Olympic teams, the nursing career didn’t work out for me,” she said, “but…I’ve always wanted to help kids and I love kids…and I come from a family of [nurses].”
Source: MedPage Today
