Simone Biles' victory in Tokyo

Gymnast Simone Biles during her exercise in the final of the balance beam-Ashley Landis / AP

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• Simone Biles, bronze in bar, gold in courage

Simone Biles runs towards the colt at 15 miles per hour, enters the trampoline doing a somersault and a twist, and is thrown almost ten feet above the ground. In the air, he has time to do two plank somersaults before landing on his feet. It is estimated that it rotates at 150 revolutions per minute. At the Tokyo Olympics, Biles jumped only once. He then announced that he was giving up competing in the finals. During the exercise, he explained, "I literally couldn't tell top from bottom." Your mind and body are "out of sync." Fortunately he landed on his feet. The 24-year-old American gymnast came to Tokyo to be the absolute star of the Games, and she has been. But not because of his medals (he goes with a silver for teams and a bronze, yesterday Tuesday, on the balance beam, the only device in which he has competed),it is for bravely putting a face and words to the need to address mental health issues honestly and without prejudice. The injury that removed her is psychological.

The Tokyo Games are being an interesting mirror on our time. We all empathize with the athletes putting on and taking off the mask, before and after each test. And in the case of Simone Biles, her decision exemplifies the public recognition that the pandemic has finally given to the importance of mental health. If the most successful gymnast in history can get off the competition at the end of the Games because her mind is not performing, those of us who see her on television can free ourselves from prejudices and recognize this type of problem as a medical issue of the first order in the world. current world, which prevents the normal development of life like a physical ailment.

The pandemic has accelerated this process to place mental health at the center of public debate. A recent CIS study revealed widespread symptoms among the population as a result of this situation, such as fear, anxiety, insomnia or sadness. Requests to strengthen mental health in public health systems are growing as the need for these services increases. Private professionals are barely coping. It's not just about having lived surrounded by illness and death for more than a year, isolation and teleworking are taking their toll as well.

There will be no shortage of voices that continue to undermine the problem, perpetuating stigmas as well as a false image of mental health elitism. But Biles's gesture, like that of tennis player Naomi Osaka before her, indicates that the social recognition of these ailments as a common medical issue has no going backwards. Although unexpected and never desired, that is his victory in these Games, which can add to his astonishing record.