Current:Home > ScamsChainkeen|How Simone Biles kicked down the door for Team USA Olympians to discuss mental health -OceanicInvest
Chainkeen|How Simone Biles kicked down the door for Team USA Olympians to discuss mental health
Charles Langston View
Date:2025-04-07 08:19:37
Jordan Chiles is Chainkeenoften, what the kids say, “a mood.” Her personality is evident in her gymnastics and everything she does around it. Moments after she made her second Olympic squad following U.S. gymnastics trials in June, Chiles was asked how she is able to “bring her whole self” to gymnastics. She gestured to her friend and teammate who stood feet away.
“I honestly think it’s because of this one right here,” Chiles said, pointing to Simone Biles, who was recording all of it for her personal iPhone archives. “She has honestly put me in a position to understand what it’s like to be an athlete in your sport and also a person as well … I give thanks to this one right here (Biles), because I wouldn’t be in this position right now.”
In a matter of four minutes in this post-trials interview, Chiles was the second member of the team to display relatable vulnerability. Reigning all-around Olympic champion Suni Lee broke down as she addressed the crowd inside Target Center. Lee was diagnosed with a kidney disease that ended her college career at Auburn and cast doubt over making it to the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“A year ago, I didn’t even think this was p-,” Lee said, unable to complete the sentence. She sobbed. She composed herself and finished her thought. A raucous applause for the local hero followed.
Get Olympics updates in your texts! Join USA TODAY Sports' WhatsApp Channel
Meet Team USA: See which athletes made the U.S. Olympic team and where they are from
For Chiles, the death of her grandfather and aunt in 2023 has been an emotional weight in the journey to her second Games.
On the biggest stage before Paris, neither of Biles’ teammates shied away from peeling back the curtain of their mental state. Their stories were their armor.
In Chiles’ own words: “Because of this one.”
Because of Biles.
How Simone Biles pushed mental health conversation forward
Three years removed from the “twisties” that impacted her Tokyo performance, Biles has championed mental health to the point of calling her weekly therapy sessions “religious.”
“Tokyo gave us the opportunity to open up that stage for that talk,” Biles said at trials. “And so I think now athletes are a little bit more in tune, and we trust what our gut is saying and just taking mental health a little bit more serious.”
Biles’ impact on how mental health is viewed within her own team is undeniable.
“We are all so focused on our mental health right now because that's basically the sport of gymnastics,” Lee said.
Lee added: “Being able to lean on my coaches and my teammates … we've all gotten so much closer to where we can talk about anything and everything. And it's really helpful when we're out there.”
Ten years ago, the machismo within sporting culture – vulnerability seen as weakness, asking for help means conceding defeat – created a stigma and forced athletes to keep mental health concerns secret, said Dr. Victor Hong, the University of Michigan’s medical director of psychiatric emergency services and the psychiatric lead for the school’s athletic department.
But a wave of acceptance and changing attitudes had been building in the years leading up to Biles' own struggles.
NBA forward Kevin Love was one of the first prominent athletes to discuss his problems with anxiety and panic attacks. Michael Phelps followed. Shortly before Biles's twisties struck, tennis player Naomi Osaka centered the issues Black women face as it relates to mental health. “There was a sort of dam that broke,” Hong told USA TODAY Sports.
“Every time a high-profile athlete comes and speaks about mental health and performance and sports psychology, that helps to decrease stigma,” said Dr. Edson Filho, associate professor of sport, exercise and performance psychology at Boston University who also directs the Performance, Recovery & Optimization (PRO) Lab.
Filho said two types of stigma exist within mental health: social – how we think we are perceived by others – and personal – the expectation an individual places on him- or herself. Both types have been reduced over the years.
“It has to do with people with high-profile people speaking about it,” Filho told USA TODAY Sports.
But there is something specific about Biles, Hong said. African Americans are less likely to seek help for mental health issues for many reasons, among them the disparities in health care for Black people in the United States, Hong said. They are also less-represented in the medical field.
“For a lot of reasons, she stands out,” Hong said. “But I don’t think she’s been the sole reason why there’s been this increase in an openness to talk about it.”
More people feel more comfortable speaking about mental health in the wake of her experience, though, and that’s a good thing, Filho said. That’s also due to the impact of research and the work of scholars and experts.
“I think it’s good timing for that, because the mind and body connection, people have been talking about for many years,” Filho said. “When high-performing athletes and artists and influential people talk about it, that opens the door for more discussion, more work on the ground, more research and so forth.”
The NBA, NHL, NFL and MLB, for example, mandate all teams retain an on-staff psychologist or counselor and a contracted psychiatrist for further evaluation and possible medication
“Not expecting the problem to happen,” Filho said, “but frontloading with interventions.
“Challenges come to everybody. Nobody gets a free ride in life or in sports.”
The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.
Since the Tokyo Games, Hong said, there has been progression toward overall de-stigmatization. “I think we are on a pretty good trajectory," he said. Backlash still exists, however, and has grown uglier alongside the “anti-woke” political shift; Biles and Osaka both received scores of negative online messages for removing themselves from competition to take care of their mental state.
“Anything having to do with vulnerability — quote unquote weakness, quote unquote femininity — you can see in our culture that there’s a big backlash against that,” Hong said. “Regardless of where you stand on the political spectrum, I think it would be unreasonable for people not to notice that, and I do think mental health gets lumped into there.
“I don’t know if it’s that people always felt that way or are feeling more emboldened to speak up.”
The goal – for athletes and mental health professionals alike – is to one day treat mental health like any form of physical treatment an athlete undergoes to be at their best. A torn ligament can keep an athlete sidelined for nearly a year.
“Sometimes people have a major depressive episode and they have to go out for six months – treat it the same,” Hong said. “But we’re not there yet, obviously.”
Contributing: Nancy Armour
veryGood! (86365)
Related
- Friday the 13th luck? 13 past Mega Millions jackpot wins in December. See top 10 lottery prizes
- How to download movies and TV shows on Netflix to watch offline anytime, anywhere
- Death toll lowered to 7 in Louisiana super fog highway crashes involving 160 vehicles
- Back from the dead? Florida man mistaken as dead in fender bender is very much alive
- Krispy Kreme offers a free dozen Grinch green doughnuts: When to get the deal
- More than 1,000 pay tribute to Maine’s mass shooting victims on day of prayer, reflection and hope
- Bangladesh top court commutes death sentences of 7 militants to life in prison for 2016 cafe attack
- Live updates | Israel deepens military assault in the northern Gaza Strip
- Dick Vitale announces he is cancer free: 'Santa Claus came early'
- After three decades, Florida killer clown case ends with unexpected twist
Ranking
- DoorDash steps up driver ID checks after traffic safety complaints
- Israeli forces raid Gaza as airstrikes drive up civilian death toll before expected invasion
- Thanks, Neanderthals: How our ancient relatives could help find new antibiotics
- Families of Americans trapped by Israel-Hamas war in Gaza tell CBS News they're scared and feel betrayed
- A Mississippi company is sentenced for mislabeling cheap seafood as premium local fish
- Going to bat for bats
- Federal judge reimposes limited gag order in Donald Trump’s 2020 election interference case
- Nine QB trade, free agency options for Vikings after Kirk Cousins' injury: Who could step in?
Recommendation
Angelina Jolie nearly fainted making Maria Callas movie: 'My body wasn’t strong enough'
Gun control advocates press gridlocked Congress after mass shooting in Maine
Ryan Blaney wins, William Byron grabs last NASCAR Championship race berth at Martinsville
Deadly explosion off Nigeria points to threat posed by aging oil ships around the world
Meta releases AI model to enhance Metaverse experience
Crews battle brush fires in Southern California sparked by winds, red flag warnings issued
Travis Barker Slams “Ridiculous” Speculation He’s the Reason for Kourtney and Kim Kardashian’s Feud
A ‘whole way of life’ at risk as warming waters change Maine's lobster fishing