Paris Olympics: How Simone Biles vaulted over her mental health struggles

It takes some character to be a Simone Biles.

Three years after it looked like curtains for the world's most decorated woman gymnast in Tokyo, thanks to what was a potentially dangerous mental disorder, the American diva is back on her favourite turf — drawing thunderous cheers as usual.

Tuesday night, 30 July, was all about Biles at the Paris Olympics, as she sealed the golden deal for the US women’s gymnastics team — with Sunisa Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera — at a packed Bercy Arena in Paris.

When Biles performs, there’s almost always a who’s-who list in the stands too. Yesterday was no different, with the likes of Michael Phelps and Serena Williams in attendance for the finals.

However, star power and sheer hard work aside, Biles has admitted in a number of interviews in the run-up to the Games that is was regimented mental therapy that played a key role for her — getting her to a fifth Olympic gold.

Just imagine the underlying danger of a 'twistie' — a condition where the gymnast experiences a disconnect between the brain and the body after becoming disoriented in a mid-air manoeuvre.

A distraught Biles pulled out of a number of events in Tokyo thanks to this problem, in addition to facing the full glare of the media spotlight as whistleblower testifying against the disgraced Dr Larry Nassar, a former US gymnastics team coach and serial offender on sexual abuse charges.

Acknowledging her mental health problems uncovered to the world not only her own struggle, but a slice of what many an elite athlete must cope with. Indeed, it is often the case that the bigger the name, the more severe the performance anxiety — and that's not taking into account other curveballs that may be unrelated to the sport itself.

Much as Biles’ tryst with mental health made the headlines, the actual ordeal has been no less draining for Caeleb Dressel, the star US swimmer.

Fresh from winning five gold medals (yes, you heard it right) in the pool in Tokyo, Dressel had to retreat for a eight-month mental-health break from swimming the very next year and withdrew from the World Championships.

As for Biles, now 27, she has been the exemplum of someone who has been there and done that, excelling in her role as a mental health advocate as well.

Her teammate Lee is one of the beneficiaries of her advice and support. “I know how traumatising it is, especially on a big stage like this. I didn’t want her to get in her head,” Biles said about counselling Lee, who was struggling with her movements on the floor.

“Being in a good mental spot, seeing my therapist every Thursday is kind of religious for me. So that’s why I’m kind of here today,” Biles said in end-June, just after making the cut for the Olympics. Her newly released documentary, Simone Biles Rising, lifts the curtain on the trying experience that is training for and competing on a global stage.

Showing off her 'but still I rise' tattoo, a tribute to Maya Angelou, Biles says she’s not backing down. Rather, she’s letting everything she’s gone through fuel her. “I feel like that’s kind of the epitome of my career and life story. I always rise to the occasion; even after all of the traumas and the downfalls, I’ve always risen.”

The refreshing candour of international athletes like Biles had not rubbed off on athletes from the Subcontinent until recently. Here, speaking about mental health is still taboo.

However, there has been growing acknowledgement that fitness includes mental fitness for the Indian contingent too, with two mental conditioning coaches accompanying the squad. The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has them stationed in the recovery room at the Games Village now.

‘’We have also made provisions for personal mental conditioning coaches to accompany the athletes. In a few disciplines, like shooting or the hockey team, their own specialists are also accompanying them,’’ Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala, chief medical officer for the Indian contingent, revealed on the eve of the Games.