08/03/2021 6:32 AM
Clarín.com
sports
Updated 08/03/2021 6:47 AM
She was in the first final of the women's artistic gymnastics in Tokyo 2020 and also in the last.
Simone Biles lowered the curtain on the sport of which she is the queen with a lesson more valuable than a medal: mental health is as important as physical.
The quadruple Olympic champion five years ago said it and her voice enlightened hundreds of athletes in Japan and millions of people around the globe.
The world was waiting for her and she felt the weight of those looks on her shoulders.
The pressure of having to be the new figure of the Olympics after the departures of American swimmer Michael Phelps and Jamaican athlete Usain Bolt blocked her.
Only one jump had made on July 27 in the team final - the first in Tokyo 2020 - when she retired and spoke of the "demons in her head" that tormented her, that made her fear with an injury.
The blockade lasted until this August 3, when she returned to the Ariake Stadium for the balance beam final, perhaps the most challenging apparatus in women's artistic gymnastics, and
obtained the bronze medal
, behind the Chinese Chenchen Guan and Xijing Tang, 16 and 18 years old respectively
.
The balance beam was the last final in the women's artistic gymnastics program and therefore the last chance to see the four-gold medal winner in Rio five years ago in Tokyo.
Dressed in the red gymnastics team of the United States, Biles appeared in third place in the Indian row led by Canadian Elsabeth Black, the first to act and obtaining a score of 13,866, slightly lower than the Chinese Xijing Tang, the opening act. from the United States, which obtained 14,233.
In action.
Simone Biles in the apparatus that demands the most from gymnasts psychologically.
Photo AP Photo / Natacha Pisarenko
So it was the bronze medalist's turn at the Rio 2016 beam. The 24-year-old gymnast did not enter the beam with a jump but instead climbed up the middle and exhibited a triple wolf, the highlight of a more routine routine. simple but in which he showed security and ended with a double tent to get out.
The happiness of her rivals and Biles herself were evidence that the rating - which was 14,000 - was not the most important thing in the Japanese afternoon.
The closing of the apparatus was in charge of Chenchen Guan, a 16-year-old gymnast who did a perfect routine and took the gold, in addition to the praise and hug of Biles.
"Great job," said the American, the second to hug her when she got off the beam, where China repeated 1-2 in London 2012.
Biles had managed to return despite living the most feared in the environment he loves the most.
"Since entering the tapestry, I am alone with my head, dealing with demons in my head. I must do what is good for me and focus on my mental health and not compromise my health and well-being," he had told the woman. press minutes after hanging the silver medal of a test that the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) won and of which he could only participate in one rotation, that of the jump.
That day, she was the gymnast who closed the first rotation, which the United States shared with the Russians.
He had announced an Amanar with two and a half turns.
However, he seemed to get lost in the air and made a Amanar with a twist and a half, which lowered his score to 13,766, the worst among his team members.
"For anyone who is saying I quit, I didn't quit. My mind and body are just out of sync. I don't think you can gauge how dangerous that can be in a hard surface competition. Nor do I have to explain why I put my health as a priority. Physical health is mental health, "she wrote a few days later on her Instagram account, where she uploaded a video in which she is seen practicing (and falling) a few turns on the uneven bars.
This August 3, Simone Biles demonstrated that recovery is possible and that with work and love you can always return.